Pinned
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton lambasted the ruling and suggested that Judge Scott McAfee allowed the rule of law to “go by the wayside.”
“Today, the rule of law is completely going by the wayside and I think it really started under President Obama, and we’ve just moved to this place where now judges – and I deal with this, I know President Trump deals with this … the rule of law means nothing,” he told Blaze TV host Glenn Beck.
“They look at things politically, and they want a certain result, which is get rid of him so that he cannot be president—because they don’t feel like even with some potential voter fraud out there that they can beat him. And so, they are willing to ignore normal rules of procedure, normal rules of conflict, normal rule of law, to say the result matters here, let’s just keep on going.”
President Trump’s lead defense counsel Steve Sadow said Judge Scott McAfee’s ruling didn’t go far enough.
"While respecting the Court’s decision, we believe that it 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,” Mr. Sadow said on X, formerly Twitter.
“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.”
Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who brought the disqualification motion, opined Judge Scott McAfee’s decision should have gone further but that his words vindicated her team’s arguments.
"While we believe the court should have disqualified Willis’ office entirely, this opinion is a vindication that everything put forth by the defense was true, accurate and relevant to the issues surrounding our client's right to a fair trial,” she said in a statement, according to Fox News.
Ms. Merchant brought the motion to disqualify Ms. Willis and had a testy interaction with Ms. Willis during her testimony in February.
Former President Donald Trump. responding to special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s resignation, derided both District Attorney Fani Willis and Mr. Wade.
“The Fani Willis lover, Mr. Nathan Wade Esq., has just resigned in disgrace, as per his and her reading of the Judge’s Order today,” he said in a post on TruthSocial.
“Nathan was the ‘Special,’ in more ways than one, Prosecutor ‘engaged’ by Fani (pronounced Fauni!) Willis, to persecute TRUMP for Crooked Joe Biden and his Department of Injustice, for purposes of Election Interference and living the life of the Rich & Famous.”
Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade has tendered his resignation following the Judge McAfee's ruling, paving the way for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the election case against President Trump.
"I hereby offer my resignation, effective immediately," Mr. Wade wrote in a letter to Ms. Willis.
He said was resigning “in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public, and to move this case forward as quickly as possible.”
Read Nathan Wade's resignation letter and District Attorney Fani Willis's acceptance letter here.
In a statement, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) criticized Judge McAfee’s decision for “reinforc[ing] the narrative that there is a two-tiered system of justice for President Trump and those around him.”
He suggested the Georgia state Senate or state’s attorney general should “look into” the issue. “Today is a sad day for Georgia,” said Mr. Graham, who serves as ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The ruling, he said, was “nonsensical. When it comes to the prosecution of President Trump and others in Fulton County, Georgia, politics hangs heavy in the air.”
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that defendants had not met the standard for disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the high-profile election case, but highlighted several unresolved issues in his March 15 order.
The ruling was much anticipated, as Ms. Willis has been the subject of numerous investigations since allegations of an improper relationship and financial benefit were made early this year.
The embattled district attorney is allowed to continue prosecuting the case against former President Donald Trump and 14 codefendants so long as Nathan Wade, the special counsel she appointed named in the motion to disqualify, is taken off the case. He issued his resignation shortly after the ruling.
In an interview with NTD, The Epoch Times’s sister media outlet, criminal defense attorney David Gelman criticized Judce Scott McAfee’s ruling, saying it “literally made no sense” and that both Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade should be removed. He added, however, that Judge McAfee’s decision nonetheless helped President Trump and his co-defendants in the Georgia case.
“I do think it is actually a win for Donald Trump’s legal team and the co-defendants because, as a criminal defense attorney, I’m licking my chops to go after Fani Willis and that prosecutor’s office,” he said. “They’re inept. They already messed up the indictment, they had counts already dismissed. They already have been embarrassed. If this goes to trial … they have a very, very slim chance at winning.”
Mr. Gelman also predicted a delay for the trial and speculated it likely wouldn’t start before November, when the presidential election is taking place. A new prosecutor would need time to catch up on the case, he said.
Author and combat veteran Sean Parnell called on Gov. Brian Kemp to "step in & let his AG go after Fani."
Attorney and commentator Greta Van Susteren similarly called on Gov. Kemp to take action.
"The Governor needs to confront this - failure to do so shows a rogue system," she posted.
Experts and commentators on both sides of the political aisle have said Ms. Willis should recuse herself.
"For the good of the case, given that ethics issues will abound now as to Willis, she should voluntarily recuse herself from the case and allow another prosecutor to oversee the GA trump case," wrote Andrew Weissmann, former assistant U.S. Attorney and MSNBC co-host.
Heritage Foundation senior legal fellows Hans von Spakovsky and Charles Stimson similarly said Ms. Willis should choose to recuse herself.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) accused the judge of being politically motivated and posted on social media that "Fani Willis should be disbarred," calling for the RICO indictment charges to be dropped.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) similarly questioned Judge McAfee's impartiality, arguing that he "worked for Fani Willis and donated to her campaign" and said the judge "should have recused himself in the first place."
Rep. Greene called on the state ethics board to investigate Ms. Willis, adding that "I've filed multiple complaints!"
While the judge in former President Donald Trump’s Georgia case allowed District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case, he criticized her for making a racially charged speech in mid-January in which she invoked the “race card.”
The Jan. 14 speech was given by Ms. Willis just days after allegations surfaced that she engaged in an improper relationship with her special counsel at an Atlanta church. Ms. Willis, who is black, appeared to suggest that court motions filed against her were based on a racial animus against her, while providing no evidence.
The comments, Judge Scott McAfee ruled Friday, was “legally improper,” and “providing this type of public comment creates dangerous waters for the District Attorney to wade further into.”
Legal expert Jonathan Turley said the judge left a lot of unanswered questions in his ruling.
"This avoided the cliff but it did not avoid the questions that will inevitably come up. It's like finding two people in a bank vault and taking one off to jail," Mr. Turley told Fox News. "The appearance problem that the judge identified with regards to Wade was directly related to his relationship with Willis. They both testified in the same way, they were the two parts of this relationship, and only one of them was disqualified."
"Why should Willis escape that same penalty? The opinion leaves us feeling like the court went and shot the wounded," he said, though he added that the judge has otherwise behaved in a "fair and efficient" way.
Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law, said in National Report interview that the outcome was what he predicted while criticizing the judge.
Mr. Dershowitz alleged Ms. Willis perjured herself and conspired to commit perjury with Mr. Wade.
"Who are we going to believe, this judge or your lying eyes? We all know there was an actual conflict of interest here. He just didn't have the guts to say it and I predicted he wouldn't have the guts to say it, he has to live in Fulton County," Mr. Dershowitz said. "He said some things that were very critical of her, but still, he should have removed her from the case."
"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," stated Steve Sadow, lead defense counsel for President Trump in Fulton County, Georgia.
"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.”
During Ms. Willis's church speech, she lambasted a Fulton County Commissioner "and so many others" for criticizing her decision to hire Mr. Wade.
"The State argues the speech was not aimed at any of the Defendants in this case. Maybe so. But maybe not," the judge wrote. "Therein lies the danger of public comment by a prosecuting attorney."
Mr. Sadow had argued in court that media coverage of the speech was that Ms. Willis was talking about the defendants.
The judge noted that the eight defendants joining the Roman motion had brought a variety of other claims perhaps better suited to separate motions as they did not advance a motion to dismiss based on conflict of interest.
Defendant Cathy Latham had argued that Ms. Willis was politically motivated, and the judge said this was a selective prosecution issue that should be submitted as a "motion asking the trial court to exercise its judicial power on equal protection grounds."
He also referenced additional issues before the state ethics board; since the Jan. 8 allegations, several investigations into and ethics complaints have been made against Ms. Willis, but those were not issues presented to the court.
The Fulton County District Attorney's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled on March 15 that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis does not need to step down from prosecuting the high-profile case against former President Donald Trump and 14 others if special counsel Nathan Wade is taken off the case.
The district attorney stepping aside would remove her entire office from the case, which would then need to wait for reassignment to another prosecutor. Mr. Wade is an outside attorney contracted by the office and his leaving the case would allow it to continue without any delay.
Hours later, Mr. Wade tendered his resignation, paving the way for Ms. Willis to stay on the case.
Read the order here.
The judge granted in part and denied in part the motion to disqualify.
He found that the defense failed to prove "an actual conflict of interest," but the relationship between Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade was a "significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team."
The judge found that even if conflict of interest was not proven, the appearance of impropriety applied because "a perceived conflict in the reasonable eyes of the public threatens confidence in the legal system itself."
Yet the remedy for an appearance issue is not disqualification, he added.
To remedy the appearance issue, which was caused by the relationship, one of the parties had to leave the case, the judge decided.
In the order, Judge McAfee explained that disqualification is not a statutory standard but a "remedy" in the public interest; that public prosecutors must serve the public interest rather than private or political interest.
But "conflict of interest" is a factual standard, the judge continued. The fact that Mr. Wade was paid by the hour and could have had an interest in billing many hours is not a violation.
"Nor would a romantic relationship between prosecutors, standing alone, typically implicate disqualification, assuming neither prosecutor had the ability to pay the other as long as the relationship persisted," the judge wrote. But in the current case, the combination of the romantic relationship and speculation of "improper motivations" complicated matters.
The judge criticized the district attorney's behavior in response to the allegations however, writing that she displayed "tremendous lapse of judgment" and testified in an "unprofessional manner in the evidentiary hearing.
"Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices – even repeatedly," he wrote.
The judge questioned the credibility of the defense witnesses, but took issue with the state's testimonies as well, writing that "an odor of mendacity remains" even if the defense's evidence did not supply proof.
Two witnesses the defendants called to testify on the timeline of Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade's relationship both had their credibility called into question by the state.
Robin Yeartie, a former longtime friend of Ms. Willis's, said Ms. Willis had told her about meeting Mr. Wade at a conference in 2019. Ms. Yeartie said a romantic relationship between the two began "shortly" after, that same year, and that there was "no doubt" in her mind that the two were dating, displaying signs of physical affection like "hugging, kissing."
However, she was unable to provide any specifics, and the judge found her testimony lacking in "context and detail."
Trump attorneys had hired a private investigator who was able to subpoena Mr. Wade's cell phone data, finding 12,000 texts exchanged between Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade more than a year before they said their romantic relationship began.
It also put Mr. Wade in the proximity of a condo Ms. Willis sublet from Ms. Yeartie in what looked like two overnight stays.
The judge said this was not definitive proof that Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis's testimonies were false or that they lied about the timeline of the relationship.
Ms. Willis had been disqualified from prosecuting a separate, related case last year against Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, as she had helped fundraise for the defendant's political opponent.
In that case, statements she had made prior to the case were not taken into account. Following that standard, Judge McAfee discounted statements Ms. Willis made before July 31, 2023, and said that even more recent comments describing the election indictment or "personal behind-the-scenes anecdotes are not disqualifying."
"This includes the District Attorney’s unorthodox decision to make on-the-record comments, and authorize members of her staff to do likewise, to authors intent on publishing a book about the special grand jury’s investigation during the pendency of this case."
Judge McAfee had previewed his decision during an interview with WSB on Thursday. He said he wanted to convey “that no ruling of mine is ever going to be based on politics.”
“I’m going to be following the law as best I understand it,” he added.
In a prior interview, he told WSB that he looked forward to discussing the case with his kids when they got older. “What I’m looking forward to one day is maybe they grow up a little bit and ask me about it, and I’m looking forward to looking them in the eye and tell them I played it straight and I did the best I could,” he said of his 5 and 3-year-old kids.
After the huge allegations made in the Jan. 8 motion, half the defendants joined the motion to disqualify, adding other reasons such as "prejudicial behavior."
The scandal also snowballed far beyond Judge McAfee's courtroom.
Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade had kept their relationship private, and the timeline covers a period during which Mr. Wade was still married. After the relationship was first mentioned in the Jan. 8 motion, Mr. Wade's then-wife filed in divorce court bank statements that corroborated the trips mentioned in the election case, including tickets in Ms. Willis's name. Ms. Wade also tried to subpoena Ms. Willis for a deposition regarding her spouse's financial situation, but Mr. Wade settled the divorce case before he or Ms. Willis was called on to testify.
The demurrers, or formal challenges to pleadings by the prosecution, were brought by President Trump, former White House chief-of-staff Mark Meadows, and attorneys John Eastman, Ray Smith III, Robert Cheeley, and Rudy Giuliani.
Three of the quashed charges apply to President Trump, throwing out counts related to a phone call he made to the Georgia Secretary of State.