A Georgia Court of Appeals On Thursday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis disqualified oversight of the prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump and other election interference defendants.
But the appeals court let stand charges against the defendants, who’re accused of crimes related to their efforts to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss in Georgia to President Joe Biden.
The decision overturns a Fulton County Superior Court judge's ruling that allowed Willis to stay within the case, despite arguments from Trump's lawyers that she was dismissed due to inappropriateness of her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the highest prosecutor had chosen as leader, ought to be disqualified.
The appeals court said in its decision that the treatment offered by Judge Scott McAfee – which allowed Willis to stay on the case if Wade withdrew from it – was inadequate.
“After careful consideration of the court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify Attorney Willis and her office,” the appeals court said.
“The remedy devised by the trial court to prevent a persistent appearance of impropriety did nothing to eliminate the appearance of impropriety that existed at a time when Attorney General Willis exercised her broad pretrial discretion over who should be prosecuted and what charges should be filed “, said the court.
“While we recognize that the appearance of impropriety is generally not sufficient to justify disqualification, this is the rare case where disqualification is ordered and no other remedy is sufficient to restore public confidence in the integrity of this process .”
However, the appeals court also wrote, “We, however, affirm the denial of appellants' motion to dismiss the indictment.”
The Georgia case is certainly one of two criminal cases pending against Trump.
The president-elect was convicted in New York state court earlier this 12 months of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has not yet been convicted on this case.
The judge within the case on Monday rejected Trump's request to vacate the convictions and charges based on his claim of presidential immunity. Prosecutors had used testimony and other evidence from former White House aides within the case, which Trump's lawyers said contradicted a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave presidents presumptive criminal immunity for so-called official acts.
But Judge Juan Merchan can also be considering other arguments that Trump's lawyers have made in favor of dismissing the case.
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