This decision has been weeks in the making. The longer it took, the more incriminating it looked for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The Georgia RICO case against the president-elect got in trouble when it was revealed that Willis and her top prosecuting attorney on her team, Nathan Wade, had an improper relationship that wasn’t disclosed. It led to the Trump legal team highlighting rightly that there are questions of ethics, character, and conflicts of interest, which the courts agreed. Now, as Mia wrote yesterday, Willis has been disqualified from the case:
The Georgia Court of Appeals has officially disqualified Fulton County DA Fani Willis from prosecuting President-elect Donald Trump and his remaining co-defendants in the crumbling 2020 election interference case.
According to the 31-page decision handed down Thursday, the state's appeals court ruled that there was, in fact, a conflict of interest that arose when Willis hired special prosecutor Nathan Wade and proceeded to have an undisclosed affair with him during the prosecutorial process.
CNN had a low-key meltdown over the announcement yesterday, declaring the case “dead in the water” while lamenting that there’s no legal albatross around Trump’s neck as he prepares to take over in January:
CNN in meltdown mode!
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) December 19, 2024
“That case against him in Georgia had already been paused. Now, it’s not even backburnered—it’s dėad in the water."
pic.twitter.com/KQpijOOx49
CNN’s Elie Honig, who has been a lone voice of reason regarding the legal analysis of the cases against Trump, summed up the Georgia RICO case in two words: “It’s over.” He made the same determination in June when he mentioned that this circus of a case wouldn’t conclude before the 2024 election. In the ruling, Willis’ defaming remarks about Trump were used to remove her.
The failure of Fani Willis continues:
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) June 9, 2024
Kaitlan Collins: "If we thought the Georgia case was doomed from the start, this is basically cementing that."
Elie Honig: "It's over. It's not happening before the 2024 election. It's not happening in 2024. It's maybe not happening at all."… pic.twitter.com/hAJjTJzcFs
“The defense is going to argue to the court of appeals, if the prosecutor makes 'legally improper statements' that impair the constitutional rights of the defendant, there needs to be a remedy for that,” said Honig at the time.
Well, they listened.
Here's the coup de grace:
— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) December 19, 2024
"disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings" pic.twitter.com/aLGMS150yu