| Advertisement |
Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Fulton County Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis was disqualified by an appellate court Thursday from overseeing the criminal election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump and co-defendants. That decision could completely derail the criminal case, which was the fourth criminal indictment against Trump.
Advertisement
A lower court declined to disqualify Willis.
"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 appellate court ruling said.
Willis had come under scrutiny over a personal relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor on the Georgia Trump case.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAffee allowed Willis to stay on the case if Wade left. This appellate court ruling reverses his decision.
"While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings," the appellate court said.
Trump and 18 others were indicted in August 2023, charged with a racketeering conspiracy to overturn the legal election results in Georgia.
Trump was heard on a recorded phone call with Georgia election officials pressuring them to "find" enough votes to make him the winner when Presdient Joe Biden was the legal winner of the state in the 2020 election.
Four co-defendants in the Georgia case have pleaded guilty.
Scott Hall, Kenneth Chesebro, and former Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis all acknowledged guilt for their roles in the alleged election conspiracy.
Trump was convicted of 34 felonies in a New York state case known as the hush money case.
The jury found him guilty of falsification of business records in an attempt pay off adult film actor Stormy Daniels to keep her story from voters in the 2016 election.
