Katelyn Polantz and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Photo: AFP / Alex Slitz
A Georgia Court of Appeals has disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the case against President-elect Donald Trump and his accused co-conspirators over alleged 2020 election subversion.
The long-awaited decision, in a state criminal case against Trump that was already on hold, raises questions about whether the case can move forward in court. The appeals court found that Willis' office cannot prosecute the case, so a new special prosecutor would need to be appointed for the case to continue.
The appeals court found that a "significant appearance of impropriety" was enough to potentially taint the case in the public eye. The appellate court decided, however, it would not dismiss the sprawling racketeering conspiracy case entirely.
"While we recognise 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," the court wrote in Thursday's opinion.
The court added: "We cannot conclude that the record also supports the imposition of the extreme sanction of dismissal of the indictment."
Trump and some of his co-defendants have been trying to get Willis disqualified from the case because of a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to help handle the case.
The defendants argued that Willis financially benefited from the relationship with Wade, who defence attorneys say covered several vacations for the pair.
- CNN
