Georgia Supreme Court declines to let Fulton County DA Fani Willis return to Trump election interference case
By Casey Gannon, Jason Morris, CNN
(CNN) — The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on her removal from the case prosecuting President Donald Trump and his alleged co-conspirators over their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The case against Trump and his co-defendants will be referred to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council in Georgia, according to a statement from Willis. It will be up to the council, a bipartisan collaboration of six district attorneys and three solicitors general from across the state to decide whether a new prosecutor will be appointed to pursue the case.
The council’s executive director, Peter Skandalakis, said he would be responsible for appointing a new prosecutor. He told CNN he could also take the case on his own.
The court in a 4-3 decision backed an appeals court’s decision to disqualify Willis in December 2024 over her romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she appointed to the case.
Writing for the majority, Justice Andrew Pinson wrote the lower court’s decision “does not raise a question of gravity that warrants our further review.”
Justice Carla Wong McMillian wrote the dissenting opinion, saying that guidance from the high court would be “desirable,” given the confusing nature of the case.
Willis said in a statement that she disagreed with the court’s decision not to review her appeal, but that she respected the legal process.
“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.
The president, speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, called the ruling “a great decision” and criticized Willis’ prosecution as “a rigged case.”
Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County in August 2023, the fourth indictment he faced that year. Trump was charged alongside 18 co-defendants on racketeering charges. Willis accused them of participating in a conspiracy to unlawfully change the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, which Trump lost that year. The president won Georgia last year against then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Willis, a Democrat, faced mounting scrutiny throughout her grand jury investigation and following the indictment of Trump and his co-defendants.
One of Trump’s co-defendants, Michael Roman, moved to dismiss the indictment and disqualify Willis for her romantic relationship with Special Assistant District Attorney Nathan Wade, stating that Willis had a personal financial interest in the case.
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead defense attorney on the case, said Tuesday the high court “correctly denied” allowing Willis to return.
“Willis’ misconduct during the investigation and prosecution of President Trump was egregious and she deserved nothing less than disqualification. This proper decision should bring an end to the wrongful political, lawfare persecutions of the President,” Sadow said in a statement.
Chief Justice Nels Peterson did not participate in the decision, and Justice Benjamin Land was disqualified from the decision.
The-CNN-Wire
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