Trump-Hater Fani Willis Officially Disqualified?

Fani Willis played with fire and got burned.

Efforts to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the expansive RICO case against former President Donald Trump and his associates are gaining traction. On Monday, four co-defendants—Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Cathy Latham, and Michael Roman—announced through court filings that they are appealing the decision to keep Willis on the case.

Giuliani, a former Trump attorney, Meadows, the ex-White House chief of staff, Latham, a former state Republican leader, and Roman, a former Trump aide, are challenging the rejected bid to remove Willis. Roman’s attorney initially revealed in January that Willis had been in a personal relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, which has become a focal point of the disqualification effort.

These four defendants join Trump, former Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer, and seven others in contesting Judge Scott McAfee’s March ruling. Earlier this year, McAfee allowed Willis to remain on the case despite concerns raised by several defendants about her relationship with Wade. Both Willis and Wade acknowledged the relationship, stating it ended last summer and had no impact on the case. However, McAfee noted that the relationship could create an “appearance of impropriety” and ruled that either Willis or Wade must step down. Wade resigned shortly after the ruling.

Though McAfee did not disqualify Willis, he permitted the co-defendants to appeal his decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals. The appeals court recently agreed to hear the case, though a date has not yet been set.

In their appeal, Trump, Shafer, and other defendants argue that McAfee’s ruling, which allowed Willis to stay on the case by merely removing Wade, is illogical and contradicts Georgia law. They contend that disqualifying Willis is necessary to remove the taint of alleged unethical conduct and argue that the only proper remedy would be to dismiss the case entirely.

Willis indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants last August for their alleged attempts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. So far, four defendants—Scott Hall, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Jenna Ellis—have pleaded guilty, while Trump and the remaining 14 defendants maintain their innocence.

In response to the appeals court’s decision, Trump’s lawyer, Steve Sadow, stated that Trump is eager to present arguments to the Georgia Court of Appeals to dismiss the case and disqualify Willis, describing the prosecution as an unjust political attack.