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As predicted, Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can stay on the Trump election interference case.
However, Willis must cut ties with Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the judge ruled Friday that Willis must either step aside or cut ties with Wade.
Judge McAfee said: “The prosecution of this case cannot proceed until” Willis either steps aside (along with the whole of her office), or Wade withdraws from the case.
On Nov. 1, 2021, Willis hired Wade to prosecute former President Trump and others in the RICO election interference case. The next day, Wade filed for divorce from his wife, Joycelyn Wade, who now lives in Texas.
Attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents defendant Michael Roman, uncovered a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade. She accused the two of using taxpayer funds to take exotic trips and cruises together.
Willis initially denied the allegations, but she eventually admitted they were lovers.
Merchant said the relationship created a conflict of interest. But the judge ruled that the DA’s relationship with Wade did not amount to an “actual conflict” of interest.
MacAfee said Willis showed a “tremendous lapse in judgment” and that she acted “in an unprofessional manner” when she testified in his court.
On Feb. 15, Willis barged into the judge’s courtroom and demanded to testify, even though she was not scheduled to testify that day.
At one point, she held up documents and yelled, “It is a lie! It is a lie!”
Judge McAfee added that “an odor of mendacity remains” in the case but the court was not “under an obligation to ferret out every instance of potential dishonesty from each witness.”
Judge McAfee dismisses 3 charges against Trump
On Wednesday, Judge McAfee dismissed 6 charges, including 3 charges against Trump.
The dismissed charges included the infamous phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
In the phone call, Trump asked Raffensperger to find votes that he believed were stolen from him.
The phone call was the most crucial evidence in Willis’s case against Trump.
All 6 of the charges that were dropped deal with Willis’ allegations that Trump and his co-defendants attempted to “change the results” of the 2020 election.
