Appeals court disqualifies DA Fani Willis from prosecuting Trump Georgia case
By: NBC News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Dec. 19, 2024, 2:56 PM UTCBy Ginger Gibson and Alana Satlin
A Georgia appellate court Thursday disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and removed her from prosecuting Donald Trump and co-defendants in a case she brought over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The decision is likely to cripple the case and bring a halt to the efforts to try Trump and his allies for their efforts to overturn his loss. Federal prosecutors have already dropped Trump's federal criminal case related to the 2020 election in the wake of his winning the presidency.
"After carefully considering the trial court's findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office," the court said, referring to an earlier ruling that allowed Willis to remain on the case. Willis had been under scrutiny over her relationship with a special prosecutor on the case, Nathan Wade. Trump and other co-defendants had requested to have Willis removed from the case.
Trump's team and the DA's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The court did not go so far as to completely dismiss the case, andGeorgia law allows for the case to be assigned to a different county prosecutor in the state. But legal experts have said that is likely to be a difficult task given the complicated, political and novel nature of the case brought by Willis.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAffee had found that an "appearance of impropriety" was created by Willis' romantic relationship with Wade and determined one of the two needed to leave the case. Within hours of that decision, Wade resigned.
But the appellate court said McAffee's decision did not prevent the "appearance of impropriety."
"The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring," the court said. "While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification, 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."
Ginger Gibson
Ginger Gibson is the senior Washington editor for NBC News Digital.
Alana Satlin
Alana is a politics editor at NBCNews.com based in New York.
Charlie Gile contributed.
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One more down, two more to go......................
I don't know that this is the end of it. The DA's office may appeal to the State Supreme Court.
At this point the spectacle is putting Democrats and Willis in a horrendous light. If they want to continue their shit show let them.
Seems losing an election to Trump; as well as the House and Senate wasn't enough to teach them anything.
This indictment still stands. The DA's office can still have anyone else from the office try the case and/or as you say, file an appeal to keep Willis on it.
This temper tantrum goes back to losing the 2016 election. They've never recovered and the 2024 election has pushed many over the edge.
hmmm.... That's a significant wrinkle. Thanks for the clarification.
It will be a thorn in Trump's side his whole term.
No it won't. Most people have already forgotten about it.
Again, Democrats and their media sycophants can try to continue to play this up; but as the election showed the non TDS driven have moved on. There aren't enough TDS driven morons left to care.
If Dems want to set themselves up for bigger losses in 2026 and 2028 they need to continue to concentrate on Trump and only Trump.
Good news. It took them long enough!
I see a run for the presidency in her future. democrats are famous for picking unlikable candidates.
The amount of time and money wasted on these tantrums is mind boggling.
The case wasn't dismissed, only her presiding over it. The case is open to be picked up by another prosecutor. However President Musk will probably make sure justice is delayed or denied.
No one will give the slightest shit four years from now,
I'm not sure how many do now. It's a small number.
She should have been disqualified from the prosecution of the case months ago
Her disqualification does not detract from the guilt (or perhaps innocence in some minds) of the individuals charged but likely totally derail the case.
Trump smokes em again. TDS spools up even stronger …..