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District Attorney Fani Willis had high hopes to take former President Trump to trial before the November election, but with the latest court decision on her scandalous relationship with a special prosecutor, that prospect has never appeared slimmer.
Willis was accused in February of having an “improper” affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she had hired to help prosecutor the sweeping racketeering case against the former president.
A decision by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee not to disqualify her from the case is now on appeal, with that hearing slated for early October. And until then, McAfee can take no action in the electioneering against Trump – including taking any time this summer to decide how the Supreme Court’s decisions in the presidential immunity and “obstruction of official proceeding” matters will impact Willis’ case.
Legal experts say the scandal could prove disastrous for the case. Clark D. Cunningham, an expert in legal ethics and a law professor at Georgia State University told the New York Times that Willis “just stabbed the case right in the heart.”
GEORGIA COURT PUTS PAUSE ON FANI WILLIS’ SWEEPING ELECTION CASE AGAINST TRUMP
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks after winning the Democratic primary on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Buckhead, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Trump was indicted in August along with 18 co-defendants in the yearslong criminal investigation led by Willis and state prosecutors in Georgia into his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.
In February, Michael Roman, a GOP operative and co-defendant in the case, dropped bombshell accusations that Willis had an “improper” affair with Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute the case in November 2021.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024, in Atlanta. (Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)
Other co-defendants made similar allegations, that she had financially benefited from her relationship with him by taking lavish vacations together.
Both Wade and Willis denied they were in a romantic relationship prior to his hiring and that the couple would split the costs of their shared travels; Willis said she reimbursed Wade for her share of the trips in cash.
After evidentiary hearings held in February, Judge McAfee ordered that Wade had to be removed in order to keep Willis from disqualification in the Trump election interference case in Georgia. He also dismissed six of the states’ charges.
TRUMP’S APPEAL TO DISQUALIFY FANI WILLIS FROM GA CASE GETS OCTOBER HEARING DATE
Former President Donald Trump holds a rally in the historically Democratic South Bronx on May 23, 2024 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“With 14 remaining defendants in the Georgia case, it was always a pipe dream to believe that the case would be tried before the election,”John Malcolm, a former federal prosecutor in Atlanta, told Fox News Digital.
“The recent order from the Court of Appeals sent two signals, in my view. First, the court believes that the issues that have been raised – which include not only the payments made to Nathan Wade and her relationship with him, but also her ill-advised speech from a church pulpit essentially calling the defendants racists – are substantial and serious,” Malcolm said.
He referenced a speech made by Willis at an Atlanta church in January, when she claimed she and Wade were being scrutinized because of their race, which McAfee scolded in a court order.
“And second, in light of that, the court believes it would be fundamentally unfair to put the defendants to the time and expense of litigating pretrial issues before Judge McAfee when there is a reasonable possibility, if not a likelihood, that Fani Willis and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office will be disqualified from continuing with the case,” Malcolm added.
“If that were to happen, the case would likely be turned over to another prosecutor who may decide to proceed or to drop the whole thing,” he added.
REP JORDAN URGES CONGRESS TO ‘DEFUND LAWFARE ACTIVITIES’ OF TRUMP PROSECUTORS
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)
Malcolm also said that the pending presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court “will have a dramatic impact on both the Georgia case and the federal case that is pending against former President Trump in D.C., and may make it difficult for Fani Willis (or some other prosecutor if she is disqualified) to continue to pursue Trump.”
Anthony Michael Kreis, a Georgia State Law professor, said that if Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, is elected in November, the trial will “almost certainly be delayed until 2029.”
When asked if Willis might consider recusing herself to put the litigation back on track, Kreis said, “she is not one to back down from a fight.” “
“I think the only way she might do that is if she really felt like the case was kind of getting out from underneath her,” Kreis said. “But I think we all know from Fani Willis, she is not one to back down from the fight. She’s not going to take that hit, right? If she’s going to be off the case it’s because the court will force her off.”
A representative for Willis did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Brianna Herlihy is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
