Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis observes proceedings in the State of Georgia case against Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Alex Slitz-Pool | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
AND Georgia appeals to the appellate court Fulton County was disqualified on Thursday District Attorney Fani Willis from supervising the offender election interference impeachment of the president-elect Donald Trump and other defendants.
But Court of appeal leave the indictment against defendants charged with crimes related to attempts to reverse Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Joe Biden.
The decision overturns a Fulton County Superior Court judge's ruling that kept Willis in the case despite arguments by Trump's lawyers that she should be disqualified because of her inappropriate romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the lead prosecutor she chose to head the investigation. thing.
In its order, the Court of Appeals said the remedy proposed by Judge Scott McAfee – which allowed Willis to stay on the case if Wade recused himself from prosecuting it – was inappropriate.
“After careful consideration of the trial court's findings in the order, we conclude that it erred in failing to disqualify Attorney Willis and her office,” the appeals court said.
“The trial court's remedy to prevent the continuing appearance of misconduct did nothing to remedy the appearance of misconduct that existed at a time when U.S. Attorney Willis was exercising his broad pretrial discretion over who to prosecute and what charges to bring.” stated the court. .
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia, U.S., March 9, 2024.
Alyssa's Index | Reuters
“While we recognize that the appearance of impropriety is generally not sufficient to cause disqualification, this is a rare case in which disqualification is ordered and no other remedy will be sufficient to restore public confidence in the fairness of such proceedings.”
But the appeals court also wrote: “We, however, uphold the denial of appellants' motion to dismiss the indictment.”
The Georgia case is one of two criminal cases pending against Trump.
The president-elect was convicted earlier this year in a New York state court of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with secretly paying money to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has not yet issued a ruling on the matter.
The judge in the case on Monday rejected Trump's request to dismiss the convictions and indictment in connection with his claim for presidential immunity. Prosecutors in this case used testimony and other evidence from former White House employees, which Trump's lawyers argued was inconsistent with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that granted presidents presumed immunity from criminal prosecution for so-called official acts while holding office.
However, Judge Juan Merchan is still considering other arguments presented by Trump's lawyers to dismiss the case.
After Trump's election in November, federal prosecutors dropped two criminal cases against him because of a Justice Department policy that prohibits prosecution of sitting presidents.
In one of those cases, Trump was charged with crimes related to his efforts to make up for his loss in the 2020 national election. In the second case, he was charged with crimes related to his withholding secret government documents after he left the White House and withholding them from federal officials when they sought their return.
This is breaking news. Refresh to see updates.