Lisa Rayam
,
Lily Oppenheimer
| WABE
March 15th, 2024
Fulton Judge Scott McAfee is splitting the cookie.
McAfee ruled Friday morning that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can stay on the Georgia election interference case against former president Donald Trump and alleged co-conspirators.
That’s if special prosecutor Nathan Wade resigns from the case.
As long as Wade remains on the case, McAfee wrote, an “unnecessary perception will persist” that Willis is not “exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences.”
The judge was weighing if a conflict of interest existed because of Willis’s past romantic relationship with Wade.
That’s after multiple defendants accused her of having a financial stake in the case and of misconduct.
Atlanta attorney and Willis supporter Charlie Bailey joined WABE’s “Morning Edition” to share insider first impressions of the ruling.
Bailey was a former Senior Assistant District Attorney of Fulton County and was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2022.
He was also part of the tangled election interference case saga early-on.
While Willis was investigating the election case, she held a fund-raiser for Bailey when he ran against current GOP Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones. In a hearing, Jones’s lawyer argued that Willis had demonstrated a political bias.
This comes as McAfee recently threw out six criminal counts from the indictment against Trump. The former GOP president now faces 10 felony charges in Georgia instead of 13.
Sam Gringlas contributed to this report.
