District attorney must step aside or remove prosecutor for Trump Georgia case to continue

A court case against Donald Trump in Georgia cannot go ahead unless the district attorney steps aside or removes a special prosecutor she had a relationship with, the judge has ruled.

Trump is accused, along with 18 others, of attempting to overturn the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election in Georgia.

District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the case, was in a relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, which she argued began in early 2022 – months after she appointed Mr Wade to the prosecution in November 2021.

On Friday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee found the “appearance of impropriety” brought about by Ms Willis’s romantic relationship with Mr Wade must result in either Ms Willis and her office leaving the case – or just Mr Wade.

NBC News said if Ms Willis were to remove herself, the case would come to a halt, but having Mr Wade leave the case will ensure it continues without further delay.

The pair both previously testified that they had engaged in a romantic relationship, which is said to have come to an end last summer, but rejected the idea that Ms Willis improperly benefited from it.

Mr Wade said the pair went on trips to California, Belize and Aruba together, which he booked while being paid a $650,000 (£510,000) salary, and was later reimbursed by the district attorney.

The defence had argued that these financial arrangements “created an incentive” for the prosecution to prolong the court case.

‘Less drastic’ options available

Giving his ruling, Mr McAfee said an outsider to the case could “reasonably think” that Ms Willis is “not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences”, which he said will always be the case as long as Mr Wade remains on her team.

But more crucially, he said he did not find any evidence that the rights of defendants had been violated, or that the issues involved prejudiced them in any way.

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He said the disqualification of a constitutional officer, like a district attorney, is not necessary “when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available”.

Responding to the ruling on Friday, Trump’s lead lawyer in the case, Steve Sadow, said the defence still believes there is a conflict of interest and that his team will use “all legal options available”.

The Georgia case is one of four criminal prosecutions that Trump is facing as he secured the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the November election.

The former president has long presented the Georgia prosecution, and others he faces, as politically motivated attempts to prevent him from returning to power.

He has highlighted the claims against Ms Willis as evidence of perceived misconduct by those pursuing him.

Trump also faces federal charges for his efforts to undo his election defeat and is due to stand trial in New York later this month on charges related to hush money paid to a porn star.