Court Ousts Willis And Her Staff From Georgia Trump Case

A Georgia appeals court removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her election-interference prosecution against Donald Trump and 14 other defendants, saying her romantic relationship with a top deputy disqualifies her entire office, a decision that could doom the case.

- MARIAH TIMMS AND JAN WOLFE

The court, in a 2-to-1 ruling Thursday, said a trial judge erred by allowing Willis to remain on the case so long as her former romantic partner, Nathan Wade, an outside lawyer she hired to lead the trial team, resigned.

"This is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings," Judge Trenton Brown wrote for the majority.

The panel stopped short of throwing out the prosecution entirely, saying dismissal was too extreme of a sanction.

Still, the ruling could spell an end to the case. Under Georgia law, the prosecution will now be referred to a state board, which can decide whether to reassign it to another prosecutor. The sprawling, contentious case could struggle to find a new home with a prosecutor who has the resources or political will to carry it forward.

"It's extremely rare for an entire office to be disqualified," said former Georgia prosecutor Chris Timmons.

"That just doesn't happen. I've never seen it." Trump lawyer Steve Sadow called the ruling "well-reasoned and just." "This decision puts an end to a politically motivated persecution of the next President of the United States," Sadow said.