A Georgia appellate court said Thursday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team should be removed from the election subversion case against President-elect Donald Trump.
The bombshell decision by the Georgia Court of Appeals upends one of the few remaining cases against Mr. Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20.
The panel concluded that Ms. Willis had an impermissible financial conflict when she had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a paid investigator on the case.
A trial judge in Atlanta had allowed Ms. Willis to stay on the case so long as Mr. Wade departed, but attorneys for Mr. Trump and his codefendants appealed.
“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 panel of three GOP-appointed judges wrote.
The judges said booting Mr. Wade from the case moving forward “did nothing” to address the appearance of impropriety that existed earlier.
Ms. Willis’ indictment against Mr. Trump says he conspired with allies to overturn his loss to President Biden in Georgia after the 2020 election. He faces racketeering charges and other numerous other counts.
The case was hobbling along while special counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss two federal cases against Mr. Trump, citing precedents that say sitting presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted.
Ms. Willis dug in and said her case should move forward, but now a high court says she cannot proceed. If the case survives, Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council will be tasked with appointing a new attorney to handle it.
Separately, a New York judge is figuring out how to deal with Mr. Trump’s convictions for falsifying business records. A jury found him guilty in the hush-money case earlier this year, though sentencing was delayed because of the presidential campaign and Mr. Trump’s victory.
Prosecutors want to preserve the conviction but delay sentencing until 2029 or otherwise put the case on hold.
Defense attorneys say the case should be dismissed entirely.
