Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been disbarred from a Georgia case that accused President-elect Donald Trump of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Willis was removed from the case Thursday, citing an affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who has since resigned. The ruling overturned a lower court ruling that had allowed Willis to proceed with his lawsuit.
“Nothing was done to address the manifestations of wrongdoing.”
“After carefully considering the trial court's findings, we conclude that it erred in not disqualifying Prosecutor Willis and his office,” the appeals court said.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee previously ruled that there were “signs of dishonesty” in Willis's affair. Wade resigned following McAfee's decision.
However, the Court of Appeals held that “the remedies created by the trial court to prevent continued fraud are limited to prosecutor Willis' pre-trial decisions about who to indict and what charges to indict.'' “It did not address the fact of fraud that existed during the period in which it exercised broad discretion.” to bring. ”
“While we generally recognize that indicators of misconduct alone are not sufficient to support disqualification, this is a rare case in which disqualification is required and public confidence in the integrity of these procedures is significant. “Other remedies are not sufficient to recover.”
Willis was removed from office, but an appeals court upheld the charges against Trump and his co-defendants, allowing them to be prosecuted in another county.
The court unexpectedly canceled a Dec. 5 pretrial hearing to decide whether to remove Willis from the case. Some speculated at the time that the move signaled a decision to fire Willis without an oral hearing, but that speculation turned out to be accurate.
Trump's team and the district attorney's office did not respond to requests for comment. NBC News.
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