A Georgia attorney plans to take on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in this year’s Democratic primary, hoping to capitalize on criticism of the DA for having a romantic relationship with the taxpayer-funded investigator she hired to probe former President Donald Trump.
Christian Wise Smith announced Friday he will run against Ms. Willis in the May 21 party race.
Mr. Smith served as a prosecutor for seven years in Atlanta and as an Atlanta city solicitor. He lost the 2020 race for county district attorney to Ms. Willis and fell short in his 2022 bid for state attorney general.
He wrote a children’s book about voting and previously ran on a platform of making local justice “fair and equitable for all.”
Area lawyer Courtney Kramer is in the race on the Republican side. She called Ms. Willis a “disgrace to the legal community” and wants her disqualified from the Trump case.
The challenges are a reminder that Ms. Willis faces a reelection fight in the political sphere alongside her courtroom battle to remain on the election subversion case against Mr. Trump and 18 co-defendants.
Judge Scott McAfee, presiding in Atlanta, will decide in the coming days if Ms. Willis should be disqualified from the case because she dated special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who was hired in November 2021 and played a central role in presenting evidence to a special grand jury on the case.
Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, filed a bombshell motion saying the pair enjoyed lavish trips and meals even as Mr. Wade accepted taxpayer money, giving them a financial conflict to pursue the prosecution and warranting their disqualification.
A hearing on the issue turned into a dramatic minitrial of Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade.
Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade testified they didn’t start seeing each other until after his hiring, though some witnesses disputed that timeline. The prosecutorial pair said they split up in mid-2023.
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 that the former president says was rigged. A grand jury last year indicted Mr. Trump and his associates.
If Ms. Willis is booted from the case, her whole office will be disqualified and the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia will appoint a new prosecutor.
The new prosecutor could be another sitting district attorney or the equivalent of a special prosecutor from government or private practice.
A disqualification could result in a big delay in Mr. Trump’s trial in Georgia while he campaigns for president. As it stands, no trial date is set.
Mr. Trump is on a clear path to the GOP nomination and says the Georgia case is part of an orchestrated plot to thwart his campaign.
The former president faces 13 counts, including a violation of Georgia racketeering laws; solicitation of a violation of an oath by a public officer; and several counts related to alleged conspiracies to commit forgery, make false statements and writings or make false filings.
His co-defendants face an assortment of charges that at times overlap with those against Mr. Trump.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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