Former President Donald Trump will use “all legal options” to fight the election-subversion case against him in Georgia, his lawyer said Friday in response to a ruling that lets Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis stay on the case if she boots her ex-boyfriend, Nathan Wade, off the prosecution team.
Attorney Steve Sadow said he disagreed with Judge Scott McAfee, who concluded that Ms. Willis didn’t have a financial conflict meriting disqualification from the state racketeering case.
“While respecting the court’s decision, we believe that the court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade, including the financial benefits, testifying untruthfully about when their personal relationship began, as well as Willis’ extrajudicial MLK church speech, where she played the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism,” Mr. Sadow said. “We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place.”
Ms. Willis began investigating Mr. Trump three years ago, based on his efforts to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to dig up enough votes to overturn President Biden’s 2020 electoral victory in the state. A grand jury last year indicted the former president and his associates.
However, co-defendant Michael Roman filed a bombshell motion saying Ms. Willis had a romantic relationship with Mr. Wade, who was hired as a special prosecutor in November 2021. Defense attorneys said the pair had an impermissible financial incentive to pursue the prosecution.
Judge McAfee said the relationship didn’t rise to a financial conflict, though Mr. Wade had to leave for the prosecution to proceed under Ms. Willis. The judge said he wouldn’t toss the charges outright.
SEE ALSO: Judge: Either Fani Willis or Nathan Wade must leave Trump case
“Ultimately, dismissal of the indictment is not the appropriate remedy to adequately dissipate the financial cloud of impropriety and potential untruthfulness found here,” he wrote.
The judge did chide Ms. Willis for suggesting criticism of Mr. Wade was racially motivated in a church speech to a majority-Black congregation around Martin Luther King Day.
“The court cannot find that this speech crossed the line to the point where the defendants have been denied the opportunity for a fundamentally fair trial, or that it requires the district attorney’s disqualification,” he wrote. “But it was still legally improper. Providing this type of public comment creates dangerous waters for the district attorney to wade further into.”
The Washington Times reached out to Ms. Willis’ spokesman for comment on the ruling and how she plans to proceed.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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