The legal news continues to get worse and worse for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Early Friday, it was announced Willis had been officially kicked off the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and 14 other defendants.
Willis was disqualified over a secret sexual relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, she then hired with taxpayer money to lead the case.
Peter Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, said he will handle the case himself after multiple prosecutors declined the appointment.
“The filing of this appointment reflects my inability to secure another conflict prosecutor to assume responsibility for this case,” Skandalakis said in a statement. “Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment.”
The Georgia Supreme Court declined in September to hear Willis’ appeal of her disqualification, ending a legal fight that began in January 2024. The state’s highest court issued a 4-3 decision upholding the Georgia Court of Appeals’ December ruling that ousted Willis as lead prosecutor of the case due to a “significant appearance of impropriety.”
The appeals court ruled in favor that Willis created the conflict of interest through her sexual relationship with Wade. Defense attorneys said Willis financially benefited from the relationship when Wade used his earnings to pay for luxury international vacations the couple took together.
Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March 2024 that while the relationship did not technically constitute an illegal conflict of interest under Georgia law, it created a “significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team.” McAfee demanded that one of them step down. Wade resigned the following day.
The Georgia Court of Appeals then overturned McAfee’s ruling in December 2024, disqualifying Willis entirely from the case. Willis appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, arguing “No Georgia court has ever disqualified a district attorney for the mere appearance of impropriety without the existence of an actual conflict of interest.”
Willis was officially ruled off the case on Friday.
“While I disagree with the decision of the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court’s divided decision not to review it, I respect the legal process and the courts. Accordingly, my office will make the case file and evidence available to the Prosecuting Attorneys Council for use in the ongoing litigation. I hope that whoever is assigned to handle the case will have the courage to do what the evidence and the law demand,” Willis said in a statement.
Skandalakis said he recently received the investigative file from Willis’ office, which includes 101 banker boxes of documents and an 8-terabyte hard drive.
Willis announced the sprawling indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023. She used the state’s anti-racketeering law to allege a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The investigation began after a January 2021 phone call was leaked in which Trump pressured Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes necessary for him to win the state.
Trump surrendered at the Atlanta jail for approximately 20 minutes in August 2023, where he provided his now-famous mug shot for the first time. Four of the 19 defendants accepted plea deals.
Fourteen defendants still face charges in the case, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.
“This politically charged prosecution has to come to an end. We remain confident that a fair and impartial review will lead to a dismissal of the case against President Trump,” Trump’s lead Georgia attorney Steve Sadow said in a statement.