District attorney prosecuting the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump, Fani T. Willis acknowledged a “personal relationship” with a prosecutor she hired to manage the case. However, she argued that the relationship was not a reason to disqualify her or her office from handling the case. The admission came after allegations of an “improper, clandestine personal relationship” between the two surfaced from one of Mr. Trump’s co-defendants. The motion sought to disqualify both prosecutors and Ms. Willis’s entire office from handling the case. Within the election interference investigation, there is already precedent for disqualifying the district attorney’s office. In July 2022, a judge disqualified Ms. Willis and her office from developing a criminal case against Burt Jones, now Georgia’s lieutenant governor, because Ms. Willis had headlined a fund-raiser for one of his political opponents. If successful, a disqualification would likely sow chaos for an unprecedented racketeering prosecution of a former president. Ms. Willis sought to have the trial start in August. The presiding judge, Scott McAfee, has set a hearing for Feb. 15 to consider these matters.
Fani Willis Acknowledges Romantic Involvement with Colleague Nathan Wade in Trump’s Georgia Case
