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Scandal-scarred Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis says the decision to boot her off President-elect Trump’s election interference case will “infect” the state’s caselaw if it’s not overturned.
Willis — the top prosecutor in Fulton County — wants the Peach State’s highest court to reverse a decision from last month disqualifying her from continuing to prosecute Trump on the grounds that her affair with since-ousted lead prosecutor Nathan Wade left a “significant appearance of impropriety.”
But on Thursday, Willis, 53, fired back, claiming the mid-level appeals court “overreached … in all directions” when it took her off the case, court papers show.
She said the decision “created a new standard” and “disregarded decades of precedence” when it found just the mere appearance of impropriety was enough reason to force her off the case.
Willis said it’s essential for the high court to step in “lest the majority’s opinion be allowed to linger and infect the body of Georgia caselaw.”
Trial Judge Scott McAfee earlier this year denied a bid by Trump, 78, and his co-defendants to have the DA ousted from the case over an alleged conflict of interest caused by Willis and Wade’s fling during the prosecution.
Trump’s side claimed that Willis appointed her beau Wade to the lucrative position of special prosecutor and then reaped the benefits when he treated her to exotic vacations.
But Willis and Wade both claimed at a hearing that they roughly split the cost of their trips and that they didn’t begin their romance until after Wade started working the case.
They also both claimed they were no longer together.
While McAfee allowed Willis to continue overseeing the case, he ruled that Wade needed to step down in order to eliminate any appearance of misconduct.
On Dec. 19, a 2-1 Court of Appeals ruling, found in Trump’s favor that he had “numerous grounds” to appeal McAfee’s decision and that Willis’ disqualification was the only way to wipe the scandal from the case.
“While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety is generally not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings,” the decision read.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr has asked the state’s Supreme Court to reject Willis’ efforts to get back on the Trump case, claiming it was part of “lawfare” against Trump and the right.
On Friday, Trump appeared by video in a Manhattan case where he was given a no-penalty sentence after his “hush money” conviction for doling out payoffs to wome in the run-up to the 2016 election.
Two federal criminal cases against Trump were dropped after he was reelected since a sitting president enjoys absolute immunity.
Trump’s lawyer declined to comment.
