On Friday, Judge Scott McAfee issued his ruling in the case determining if Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis would be disqualified from the RICO case she brought against 45th President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants. McAfee, who previously donated to Willis during her campaign and worked under her at one point, ruled that special prosecutor Nathan Wade must be removed from the case or Fani Willis and the rest of her team must be removed.
In response to the decision, lead defense counsel for President Trump, Steve Sadow, said in a statement, "While respecting the Court's decision, we believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade, including the financial benefits, testifying untruthfully about when their personal relationship began, as well as Willis' extrajudicial MLK 'church speech,' where she played the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism."
"We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place," Sadow concluded.
McAfee explained in his ruling that no "disqualification of a constitutional officer [is] necessary when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available." McAfee concluded that there was an "appearance of impropriety" due to Willis's relationship with Wade but that there was no "actual conflict" that resulted from the affair. The judge clearly chose the middle-of-the-road option by giving the State a choice to choose who would be dismissed. "The prosecution of this case cannot proceed until the State selects one of two options," he wrote. Either "the District Attorney may choose to step aside, along with the whole of her office" or "Wade can withdraw."
Willis charged President Trump and 18 other allies last year for their actions following the 2020 presidential election. Trump specifically was hit with 13 charges, including "Violation Of The Georgia Rico (Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations) Act," "Solicitation Of Violation Of Oath By Public Officer," "Conspiracy To Commit False Statements and Writings," and "Conspiracy To Commit Forgery in the First Degree," as well as a number of other charges. Earlier this week, however, McAfee dismissed three of the charges against Trump and three against other co-defendants.
The judge noted that the charges, which have to deal with soliciting elected officials to violate their oaths of office, could be refiled within six months with additional evidence from Fani Willis' office, but he ruled that the charges did not suffice as written. "The Court's concern is less that the State has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the Defendants - in fact it has alleged an abundance. However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is ... fatal," the judge wrote.
Read the full ruling on the disqualification case here.
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