Fani Willis, prosecutor in the Trump Georgia case, was disqualified and the charges remain

A Georgia Court of Appeals on Thursday disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from monitoring the criminal Election interference Prosecution of the President-elect Donald Trump and other defendants.

But that Court of Appeals Let the indictment stand against the defendants accused of crimes related to their efforts to overturn Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia Joe Biden.

The decision overturns a Fulton County Superior Court judge’s ruling that allowed Willis to remain in the case, despite arguments from Trump’s lawyers that she was dismissed because of the inappropriateness of her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the top prosecutor had chosen as leader, should be disqualified.

The appeals court said in its decision that the remedy offered by Judge Scott McAfee – which allowed Willis to remain on the case if Wade withdrew from it – was inadequate.

“After careful consideration of the court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify Attorney Willis and her office,” the appeals court said.

“The remedy devised by the trial court to prevent a persistent appearance of impropriety did nothing to eliminate the appearance of impropriety that existed at a time when Attorney General Willis exercised her broad pretrial discretion over who should be prosecuted and what charges should be filed “, said the court.

“While we recognize that the appearance of impropriety is generally not sufficient to justify disqualification, this is the rare case where disqualification is ordered and no other remedy is sufficient to restore public confidence in the integrity of this process .”

However, the appeals court also wrote, “We, however, affirm the denial of appellants’ motion to dismiss the indictment.”

The Georgia case is one of two criminal cases pending against Trump.

The president-elect was convicted in New York state court earlier this year of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has not yet been convicted in this case.

The judge in the case on Monday rejected Trump’s request to vacate the convictions and charges based on his claim of presidential immunity. Prosecutors had used testimony and other evidence from former White House aides in the case, which Trump’s lawyers said contradicted a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave presidents presumptive criminal immunity for so-called official acts.

But Judge Juan Merchan is also considering other arguments that Trump’s lawyers have made in favor of dismissing the case.

After Trump’s election in November, federal prosecutors dropped two criminal cases against him because the Justice Department prohibits criminal prosecutions against sitting presidents.

In one of those cases, Trump was charged with crimes related to his efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 national election. In the other case, he was charged with crimes related to withholding confidential government documents after leaving the White House and withholding them from federal officials upon their return.

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