Appeals court removes prosecutor Fani Willis from Georgia election case against Trump and others

ATLANTA, Ga. (WANF/AP/Gray News) - The Georgia Court of Appeals has removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her role as prosecutor of her historic election interference indictment against President-elect Donald Trump.

The case against Trump and more than a dozen others had already been largely stalled for months while the court considered the pretrial appeal. But the court did not dismiss the indictment, leaving the future of the prosecution uncertain.

The new ruling means it will be up to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to find another prosecutor to take over the case and decide whether to pursue it, though that could be delayed if Willis decides to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

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The court had set a Dec. 5 date for oral arguments in the case, which revolve around Willis’ romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she had hired to investigate Trump. However, two weeks before the scheduled hearing, the court abruptly canceled it with no explanation.

In August 2021, Willis handed down a historic series of indictments against Trump, accusing him and 17 of his GOP allies — including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — of engaging in a criminal conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.

That election saw Joe Biden defeat Trump in Georgia by less than 17,000 votes. On his way to the White House, Biden became the first Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992 to carry Georgia or any other deep Southern state.

But a since-acknowledged romantic relationship between Willis and Nathan Wade threw the case into an entirely new political and judicial spectrum. And now that Trump has become the 47th president-elect, Willis — who was reelected in her own right on Election Day — and her prosecution was faced with even more uncertainty.

Since her indictment, four of Trump’s co-defendants have reached plea deals with her office, but Trump and several others — including Giuliani and Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — continue maintaining their innocence.

Willis suffered numerous recent setbacks in late 2024 in her attempt to prosecute Trump. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dismissed two charges Willis had filed against Trump. Then the Georgia Prosecuting Attorney’s Council declined to charge Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in a probe into alleged 2020 election interference in the state.

Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, said Jones was acting in his capacity as an alternate elector who wished to certify Georgia’s 2020 election in favor of Trump.

That decision was also announced the same day Willis defied a subpoena from a state senate committee investigating her conduct in Trump’s indictment.

After Trump’s reelection to the White House, CNN reported if Willis was allowed to remain on the case, it would almost certainly be imperiled now.