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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis watches a hearing in the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump case at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1 in Atlanta, Georgia.
CNN
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can continue prosecuting former President Donald Trump and 14 co-defendants in Georgia's 2020 election interference racketeering case, a ruling ruled Friday. However, only if she dismisses the special prosecutor she was involved with. romantic relationship.
CNN has reached out to the District Attorney's Office.
After more than two months of court filings and hearings, including fiery testimony on the witness stand from Willis defending his relationship with Nathan Wade, a massive conspiracy against Trump and his 2020 allies has emerged. The case could proceed depending on Willis' decision.
McAfee was highly critical of Willis and Wade's relationship, stating that it was the result of “bad choices.”
“This finding in no way indicates that the court will condone this serious error of judgment or the district attorney's unprofessional testimony during the evidentiary hearing,” McAfee wrote.
However, the judge said, “Georgia law does not permit a finding of actual conflict even if the wrong choice is made repeatedly.''
And a judge last month called Willis' fiery testimony “unprofessional” during one of the hearings on whether to disqualify him.
McAfee said she had no record of Willis paying Wade for their trips together, but that her claim that she paid him back in cash was “inherently implausible.'' It's not that unbelievable.”
“This mode of redemption may be unusual, and the lack of documentary support is understandably concerning. However, the testimony bears direct contradiction and is corroborated by other evidence,” McAfee said. he said.
The judge noted that Willis had not provided a ledger of the payments he allegedly made to Wade, and that “the district attorney likely received several hundred dollars in net proceeds.”
Nevertheless, McAfee said, “Defendants have not presented sufficient evidence to show that the costs are not 'approximately equally' divided.”
“Furthermore, and far more importantly, the court relied primarily on the district attorney's testimony to find that the evidence showed that the district attorney was not motivated by financial gain from his relationship with Wade,” McAfee wrote. It has been deemed that it has been proven.” The district attorney will prosecute and prosecute the case. ”
Ashley Merchant, a lawyer for Trump co-defendant Mike Roman, initially argued that the relationship was a conflict of interest and that the two had lied at the beginning of their relationship.
Merchant cited financial statements revealed in Wade's divorce proceedings after Willis was hired as special counsel in late 2021 as investigations into Trump and his allies intensified. She claimed Mr Willis had benefited her financially by taking her on lavish vacations. Willis denied there was anything inappropriate about their relationship.
But potentially conflicting information about when exactly the romance began is the central issue derailing Willis' prosecution of Trump and his allies, with Willis launching an investigation soon after taking office in 2021. It started.
“I do not consider our relationship to be romantic until early 2022,” Willis testified during an evidentiary hearing on the firing allegations on February 15.
When Willis was elected to the prosecutor's office, he inherited a backlog of more than 16,000 cases, due in part to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Willis chose to devote much of his energy to what he believed to be the most important case. He charged Trump with trying to steal Georgia's 2020 election.
Willis spent three years investigating and secured 19 indictments after nearly six months of special purpose grand jury proceedings.
In August 2023, Trump was booked into the Fulton County Jail on 13 charges, including extortion, conspiracy, and violation of the oath of office of a public official stemming from his attempts to overturn Georgia's 2020 presidential election results. .
The indictment charges President Trump with “unlawful solicitation” of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to violate his oath of office on January 2, 2021, when Trump He asked Raffensperger to help overturn Georgia's results in the 2020 election.
There are a total of 41 charges in this case. The first charge involved Georgia's anti-fraternity law, known as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). However, the next 40 non-alchemist charges stemmed from about a dozen important incidents after the 2020 election.
Charges in the full indictment include: false statements to the Legislature and solicitation of the Legislature; False statements or solicitations to state officials. Creating and distributing false Electoral College documents. Harassment of election officials. Solicitation of Department of Justice officials. At the invitation of then-Vice President Mike Pence. Illegal violation of election equipment. and sabotage.
The indictment also alleges that several of Mr. Trump's allies committed certain crimes related to their involvement in voting system violations in rural Coffee County, Georgia, and lied about their roles. ing.
President Trump and 14 of his allies have pleaded not guilty to all charges in this massive extortion case. Four defendants have already accepted plea deals in exchange for their testimony.
This story has been interrupted and will be updated.
