ATLANTA — On Friday, Fulton County judge Scott McAfee issued his ruling on whether to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the Georgia 2020 election interference case, in which he gave Willis two options: to step aside, along with the entire office and refer it to the Prosecuting Attorney's Council, or make Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade to withdraw.
In a development Friday afternoon, Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade stepped down from the 2020 election interference case.
Ultimately, Willis will be allowed to stay on the case, for now.
In the ruling, McAfee said "there has not been a showing that the Defendants' due process rights have been violated or that the issues involved prejudiced the Defendants in any way." He ruled that the dismissal of the indictment "is not the appropriate remedy" to "adequately dissipate the financial cloud of impropriety and potential untruthfulness found here."
Read the full ruling below (or click here to open it in a new window):
More on the disqualification saga
The ruling provides an answer to a controversy that has embroiled the district attorney and her office for more than two months.
In January, an attorney representing one of the defendants in the case filed a motion asking the judge to disqualify the D.A. and Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade, accusing the pair of improperly financially benefitting from a romantic relationship they shared. Other defendants soon joined the effort to remove her from the case. Willis and Wade denied the allegations.
Wade had been appointed by Willis to lead the team of prosecutors pursuing a criminal case against former president Donald Trump and eighteen others accused in an August 2023 RICO indictment of unlawfully interfering in Georgia’s 2020 election.
Wade’s appointment to the role of special prosecutor generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for his law firm, public records revealed.
Defense attorneys sought to establish that the pair were romantically involved at the time of the appointment and that Wade used some of the money he earned as special prosecutor to pay for vacations for the pair.
The prosecutors admitted that they shared a romantic relationship in the past, but denied that anything improper occurred.
Willis testified that she repaid Wade for the costs of their travels in cash. “I don’t need anybody to foot my bills,” said Willis at a February hearing. "The only man who’s ever foot my bills completely is my daddy.”
She and Wade also asserted, in sworn statements, that their romantic relationship did not begin until 2022—after Wade had been appointed as special prosecutor.
And in court filings, lawyers representing the D.A.’s office repeatedly disputed the defense team’s accusations.
“The record before the Court falls far short of requiring disqualification,” wrote prosecutors in a February court filing.
Judge McAfee’s decision Friday resolves the months-long dispute. But it may not be the final word on the issue. Legal experts say an appeal could be likely—though the timing of any potential appeal is not yet known.