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A judge in the state of Georgia has rejected an attempt to disqualify the district attorney who obtained an indictment accusing Donald Trump and others of meddling in the 2020 presidential elections.
However, the judge, Scott McAfee, ruled that Fani Willis, Fulton County district attorney, must end her office’s ties with the outside lawyer with whom she had a romantic relationship, or else step aside from the case, according to the decision on Friday.
Some defendants in the case had asked the judge to force Willis to step aside after alleging she had financially benefited from her relationship with Nathan Wade, who was hired by the Fulton county district attorney’s office to help prosecute the election interference case brought against Trump and 18 others.
Those defendants “failed to meet their burden of proving that the district attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal relationship and recurring travels with her lead prosecutor”, McAfee wrote.
Nevertheless “the appearance of impropriety remains and must be handled . . . before the prosecution can proceed”, he added.
If Willis complies with the judge’s order, the case — one of four criminal indictments brought against Trump over the past year — will be able to move forward once again after weeks of delay to consider the disqualification request.
This is a developing story
