Judge gives deadline to find new prosecutor in Georgia's Trump 2020 election interference case
A Fulton County judge has given the state's Prosecuting Attorneys' Council a deadline to find a replacement for District Attorney Fani Willis in the Georgia election interference case against President Trump and others.
If a prosecutor is not found in 14 days, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee says he will dismiss the case without prejudice.
McAfee filed the notice on Friday afternoon, giving the organization, which supports prosecutors, until Oct. 17 to find someone to oversee the case.
The notice comes a few weeks after the Georgia Supreme Court denied Willis' attempt to appeal her removal from the case against Mr. Trump and 15 other defendants. The court simply stated it "denied the petition" in a 4-3 decision.
Fani Willis disqualified from prosecuting President Trump
In December, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that Willis could not continue with the case due to a romantic relationship Willis had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she had hired to lead the investigation.
Lawyers representing one of the defendants in the case alleged that Willis and Wade had improperly benefited from their romance, claiming that she had paid the special prosecutor a large sum of money for his work, which he used to take her to Napa Valley, Florida, and the Caribbean.
Willis and Wade acknowledged the relationship but said they didn't begin dating until the spring of 2022, after he was hired. Despite Wade resigning from the case and a judge finding no conflicts of interest, the court pointed to an "appearance of impropriety" to disqualify her.
Willis appealed the decision, but said that she would direct her office to help move the case to whichever prosecutor the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia determines will replace her.
I hope that whoever is assigned to handle the case will have the courage to do what the evidence and the law demand," she said.
What's next for the Georgia election interference case
It could be difficult to find a new prosecutor in Georgia due to the complex nature of the case and intense public and political scrutiny surrounding it.
Whoever takes the case could continue on the track that Willis has taken, decide to pursue only some charges, or dismiss the case altogether.
Peter Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council, has not given a timeline for when a new prosecutor is expected to be chosen.
Four defendants, attorneys Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, and Kenneth Chesebro, and bail bondsman Scott Hall, have already pleaded guilty to charges connected with the investigation.
