A Fulton County judge on Friday gave District Attorney Fani Willis a stark choice: Either recuse yourself and your office from the election interference case against Donald Trump or cut ties with your lead prosecutor and former lover.
The decision would allow Willis, if special prosecutor Nathan Wade withdraws, to continue prosecuting the case against the presumptive Republican nominee for president and his 14 remaining co-defendants. It also could resolve a disqualification motion that has upended the monumental case for the last two-plus months, turning it into a spectacle with salacious allegations of misconduct against one of the most recognizable DAs in the nation.
“Whether this case ends in convictions, acquittals or something in between, the result should be one that instills confidence in the process,” Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote. “… Any distractions that detract from these goals, if remedial under the law, should be proportionally addressed.”
In a 23-page order, McAfee said he by no means condones Willis’ “tremendous lapse in judgment” for having the relationship with Wade, who has billed more than $728,000 in legal fees that he used to help pay for cruises and vacations he took with the district attorney in 2022 and 2023.
However, in a major finding, the judge said the defense had “failed to meet their burden of proving that the district attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal relationship and recurring travels with her lead prosecutor.” If McAfee had found otherwise, he would have had to disqualify Willis and her office from the case.
But McAfee did find that “the established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team – an appearance that must be removed through the state’s selection of one of two options.”…