Judge expects to decide whether Fani Willis should be removed from Trump election case in two weeks

The judge presiding over Georgia’s 2020 election interference case against Donald Trump and his co-defendants said Friday that he expects to rule on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from the case in the near future. two weeks.

Lawyers for those charged in the case, including Trump, and the district attorney’s office They presented final arguments on the matter on Friday to Judge Scott McAfee.

The defendants’ lawyers argued that Willis should be removed due to the “appearance” of a conflict of interest arising from a romantic relationship he had with the special prosecutor he appointed to the case.

After several days of extraordinary testimony, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee heard arguments about whether Willis’ relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade amounts to a conflict of interest which should force them to drop one of the four criminal cases against former President Trump.

Trump’s lawyers and some of his co-defendants Willis and Wade accused of lying on the witness stand about when their relationship began, and told Judge McAfee that keeping the district attorney on the case threatens to undermine public confidence in the judicial process.

Adam Abbate, an attorney for the district attorney’s office, responded that Willis was the target of a campaign “to impugn his reputation” that included accusations of people who had interests against her and that the motion should be dismissed.

McAfee suggested Friday that if it turns out that Fulton County’s top prosecutors lied on the witness stand about their romantic relationship, the remedy could be professional disciplinary action at the state bar, rather than the much more aggressive measure of removing them from the case against Trump.

The judge said at the end of the more than three-hour hearing that “the argument presented today has made it very clear that there are several legal issues to be resolved” and “several factual determinations that I have to make.”

“I will take the time to make sure I give this case due consideration. I hope to have an answer for everyone in the next two weeks,” McAfee said.

Willis’ removal would call into question the most extensive of the four criminal cases against Trump.

Even if a new prosecutor were to move forward on the path laid out by Willis, the inevitable delay would likely would reduce the likelihood that the case goes to trial before the presidential election November, when Trump is expected to be the Republican nominee.

Keep reading:

– The prosecutor in the Trump case defends the legitimacy of a courtship that could disqualify her
– Trump lawyer: a trial in Georgia before November would be electoral interference
– Trump criticizes prosecutor Willis for her affair with the lawyer she added to her team to investigate him

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