Trump Has Secret Weapon in Effort to Disqualify 'Unethical' Fani Willis Over Secret Romance – Georgia Law

President Trump may have a secret weapon to stop Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis from prosecuting him and 18 others for racketeering and other crimes — the black letter of Georgia law that governs calls like the one Trump launched.

The 45th president's petition is now before the Georgia appeals court, which decided to grant Trump's request to review Judge Scott McAfee's decision to keep Ms. Willis on the case. This appeals court set a date for oral arguments on October 4.

Trump is demanding that Willis be removed from the case because of the impropriety of her secret relationship with his then-special counsel, Nathan Wade. He also claims she poisoned the jury by making racist remarks about the case at a historic black church in downtown Atlanta on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

State rules tell appellate judges they have discretion to review “any judgments, decisions, or orders in the case that are raised on appeal and that may affect the proceeding below.” This means that although in theory Judge McAfee's findings of fact must be evaluated under the standard of “abuse of discretion” – a standard difficult for the appellant to meet – in practice, the court of appeal is empowered to open the entire file.

Trump, in his opening brief to the court on what he calls this “very important interlocutory appeal,” asserts that “since the investigation was launched, DA Willis has engaged in a pattern of systematically flouting her obligations ethical”. He also alleges that “his prior inappropriate conduct was neither unintentional nor isolated, but was both planned and part of a long-standing unlawful practice.”

The 45th President argues that the best analysis of Judge McAfee's decision is not as an erroneous finding of fact – trial judges have wide latitude in this area – but as an erroneous ruling of law. When it comes to legal conclusions, appeals courts evaluate lower court decisions using an approach de novo standard, meaning “from the beginning”, or without deference.

The appeal court will consider Ms Willis' fate after Mr Justice McAfee ruled Ms Willis could persist. He detected a “smell of lies” regarding her affair with her special prosecutor and former boyfriend, Mr. Wade. Judge McAfee also found that some of his public remarks were “legally inappropriate” and that his behavior presented a “significant appearance of impropriety.”

But now Trump is coming forward to claim that Judge McAfee “abused his discretion” in refusing to disqualify Ms. Willis. The 45th president argues that she should be disqualified “for intentionally and repeatedly violating ethical and professional canons to harm the accused for personal or political gain.”

Trump will seek to persuade the appeals court that Ms. Willis, “by consistently evading the legal, ethical and professional constraints of her position of power, decimated the integrity of these proceedings.” The former president deplores that “the circumstances which necessitate her disqualification are entirely self-inflicted wounds”.

The statutory authority that gives the appeals court broad scope for review — “all judgments, decisions, or orders” — could end up being a boon for Trump, who will need the appeals court to overturn Judge McAfee if he wants to dislodge Mme. Willis of the case. The prosecutor argues that Trump failed to gather enough evidence for the appeal to be considered.

Trump, however, suggested to the appeals court that Judge McAfee’s assessment of the situation was incomplete, particularly regarding when the affair between Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade began. They testified under oath that the romance began after he was hired, a day after he filed for divorce from his wife.

Trump maintains they already had a romantic relationship, one that compromised the affair from the start. The ex-lovers' romantic timeline was also contradicted by Ms. Willis's former college friend, Robin Yeartie, who testified before Judge McAfee that the romance began in 2019, long before Mr. Wade separated of his wife Joycelyn.

Ms Yeartie alleges she saw the couple “hugging, kissing and being affectionate” before November 2021, when Ms Willis hired Mr Wade. If the testimonies of Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade — as well as their sworn statements — are indeed challenged on appeal, the case for overturning Judge McAfee will strengthen.

Judge McAfee was reluctant to conclude that Ms. Willis had lied, although he invoked the “smell of lies” to characterize the story told in that courtroom. Trump, perhaps sensing an opening, wrote to the appeals court that “the cellular recordings proved that during the period Willis and Wade claimed not to have a romantic relationship, there were 2,073 calls and 9,792 text messages, an average of 6.2 calls and 29.3 text messages per day.

Another source of vulnerability for Ms. Willis may be the trips she took with Mr. Wade while he was a special prosecutor. They traveled to places like Aruba, Belize and Napa Valley. Mr. Wade paid for the vacation with his credit card, and Ms. Willis maintains that she repaid him with money stored at home. His father testified that this practice is a “black thing”.

Judge McAfee acknowledged that there is no “ledger” recording these transactions, but said his account “was not as incredible as it would be in itself.” Trump is now asking the appeals court to reconsider – among other facts and findings – what he calls “a completely unfounded explanation of the cash refunds.”