ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis says the fight isn’t over after the Georgia Court of Appeals removed her and her office from the Georgia election interference case involving President-elect Donald Trump and several of his allies.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne spoke exclusively with Willis on Thursday following the ruling as well as the defense lawyer who played a key role in removing Willis from the case.
“You are the defense attorney that raised in court the issue of DA Fani Willis’s relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade?” Winne asked attorney Ashleigh Merchant.
“Yes, I am. And we were very surprised but happy to get the opinion today,” Merchant said. “I knew that once we had our day in court, we would be meritorious.”
Winne also spoke to Willis by phone.
“We’re asking the (Georgia) Supreme Court to review the court of appeals decision,” Willis said.
She said hopefully the Supreme Court will take this decision up for review and said she does not agree with the decision.
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Willis said she does not want to comment in detail on the merits of the case because “too much is in the balance.”
Trump and his co-defendants have tried to get Willis thrown off the case for months over her romantic relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Earlier this year, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that either Willis or Wade would have to step aside. Wade resigned, but Trump and his attorneys filed an appeal to remove Willis as well.
On Thursday, a three-judge panel concluded that the lower court made a mistake by allowing Willis to stay on the case.
“The effect right now is that Fani Willis and the Fulton County District Attorney’s office have been disqualified from prosecuting the election interference case with all the defendants, including Donald Trump,” former Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said.
Porter said the majority ruling seems to change the standard for Georgia prosecutors from an actual conflict of interest to the significant appearance of a conflict of interest, which could potentially cause problems for prosecutors across Georgia.
Porter said the state’s notice of intent to petition the Supreme Court of Georgia for writ of certiorari means the Fulton County DA’s Office is asking the State Supreme Court to agree to let the prosecution appeal.
He said while the Supreme Court rarely grants such requests, the chances seem good in this case that they will.
“I think that because of the far-reaching effects of the decision, they may. I mean, it’s fairly rare for them to accept a petition for sure,” Porter said.
“I think it’s very unlikely the Supreme Court will hear this case. The Court of Appeals got it right,” Merchant said.
Defense attorney Manny Arora told Winne that McAfee has tossed out some charges and that’s not affected by the new ruling.
In his dissent Thursday, Judge Ben Land said because the law does not support the result reached by the majority, I respectfully dissent.
It goes on to say, “For at least the last 43 years, our Appellate Courts have held that an appearance of impropriety, without an actual conflict of interest or actual impropriety, provides no basis for the reversal of a trial court’s denial of a motion to disqualify.”
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