Judgement Day has finally arrived for Fani Willis.
Judge Scott McAfee, who presided over the Fulton County district attorney's disqualification proceedings, has ruled that Willis must step away from the Trump prosecution or cut ties with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, the underqualified private-practice attorney she hired to prosecute former President Donald Trump and with whom she had an undisclosed affair.
According to the 23-page ruling, McAfee ordered, "[W]ere the case allowed to proceed unchanged, the prima facie concerns raised by the Defendants would persist. As the District Attorney testified, her relationship with Wade has only 'cemented' after these motions and 'is stronger than ever.' Wade’s patently unpersuasive explanation for the inaccurate interrogatories he submitted in his pending divorce indicates a willingness on his part to wrongly conceal his relationship with the District Attorney."
"As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed."
"Put differently, an outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist," McAfee continued.
Friday's outcome boiled down to what standard of ethics the judge decided applies.
In the lead-up to McAfee's ruling, the prosecution and the defense argued over how the judge should determine what constitutes a conflict of interest in the case—with the former wanting McAfee to use the textbook standard in his decision while the latter argued that an appearance of a conflict was enough grounds for disqualification. Those were the key questions McAfee grappled with: whether the affair appeared to create a conflict, if he considers it an actual conflict, and which legal standard to employ.
"With these principles in mind, the Court finds that the record made at the evidentiary hearing established that the District Attorney’s prosecution is encumbered by an appearance of impropriety. This appearance is not created by mere status alone, but comes because of specific conduct, and impacts more than a mere 'nebulous' public interest because it concerns a public prosecutor," McAfee wrote. "Even if the romantic relationship began after SADA ['Special Assistant District Attorney'] Wade's initial contract in November 2021, the District Attorney chose to continue supervising and paying Wade while maintaining such a relationship. She further allowed the regular and loose exchange of money between them without any exact or verifiable measure of reconciliation. This lack of a confirmed financial split creates the possibility and appearance that the District Attorney benefited—albeit non-materially—from a contract whose award lay solely within her purview and policing."
Recommended
"After consideration of the record established on these motions, the Court finds the allegations and evidence legally insufficient to support a finding of an actual conflict of interest," McAfee concluded. "However, the appearance of impropriety remains and must be handled as previously outlined before the prosecution can proceed. The Defendants' motions are therefore granted in part and denied in part."
McAfee ordered that the "significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team" "must be removed" through the state's selection of one of the two outlined options: Willis chooses to step aside, "along with the whole of her office," and refer the prosecution to the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council for reassignment; alternatively, Wade withdraws.
In other words, it's either Willis or Wade. Otherwise, the prosecution of this case "cannot proceed" until then.
The record, Judge McAfee writes, establishes that there is a "significant appearance of impropriety" that infects the current structure of the prosecution team--an appearance that "must be removed" by one of two options: Either Willis steps aside, or Wade withdraws from the case. pic.twitter.com/8KPnCnb6eU
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) March 15, 2024
Wade, who specializes primarily in personal injury and family law, was appointed by Willis to lead the prosecution of Trump and his 18 allies in the state's sprawling Georgia RICO case. Despite his scant prosecutorial experience, Willis awarded Wade a high-paying contract that has brought him home $654,000 in taxpayer-funded paychecks for his years of work on the Trump case.
Though they are on the same side of the courtroom, the conflict of interest arose from how he spent his fortune—on wooing Willis, the defense says—and the timing of their extramarital exploits. The couple insists they started dating only after Wade's November 2021 appointment, but broke up before Trump's August 2023 indictment. However, an ex-Willis staffer testified that the affair, which they didn't disclose until it was outed by the defense, "no doubt" began as early as 2019, years before his hiring.
In that case, it would mean Willis willfully engaged in self-dealing by hiring her longtime lover, who went on to charge leisurely expenses to his business credit card for luxury vacations they took together, all while Wade simultaneously billed the county.
Last month, Willis and Wade both crumbled under cross-examination. Ordered to answer questions about the two's overseas trysts evidently financed by Fulton County taxpayers, a flustered Willis spectacularly self-imploded on the witness stand.
There, she let loose at the humiliating February 15 hearing. Instead of presenting herself as a polished, prim and proper prosecutor, Willis boasted she guzzles Grey Goose vodka; admitted not knowing what continent Belize is on; apparently didn't recognize legal terminology like "hostile witness"; and believed Trump's attorney called her a cash wh*re. (He meant "h-o-a-r-d.")
"As you know, Mr. Wade is a southern gentleman," Willis said with a wink, cheekily countering: "Me, not so much."
At times, Willis was obstinate, prompting McAfee to caution he'd have to strike her sworn statements if she did not directly respond to the defense's questioning. Willis defiantly declared she's "not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial!"
"These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020," she said, calling the defense's interests "contrary to democracy."
As for Wade's testimony, he insisted Willis repaid him in cold, hard cash with the wads of bills (as much as $15,000 on her "best days") she "always" has lying around the house. Well, because it's "a black thing" to do. So, there's no trace of the transactions, Wade indicated, except for a single Delta Airlines receipt for round-trip Atlanta to Miami flights Willis bought the both of them. This $697.20 charge for the airplane tickets was the only physical proof Willis could provide of her picking up the tab elsewhere. (Also, the flights were just transportation for the main event: a $3,172.20 four-night Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas booked by Wade.)
Winery host Stan Brody of Acumen Wines emerged out of the woodwork to tell CNN that he, an anti-Trump Biden donor and Willis supporter, suddenly remembered Willis paid with cash for a two-hour $50 wine tasting, plus two bottles of wine costing $150 each, on the Napa Valley estate sometime in early 2023 when she and Wade were reveling in California's wine country.
Of course, if any of the hearsay can be proven true, it wouldn't come close to offsetting Wade's spending spree.
Willis insisted that her testimony "is enough" to corroborate the reimbursement claims and should be accepted as the truth without any supporting evidence, such as a paper trail documenting the payments. "The proof is what I just told you," she said.
Ahead of the humiliating evidentiary hearings, McAfee declaratively ruled out the defense delving into Wade's qualifications—or lack thereof—in court. "In my mind, as long as a lawyer has a heartbeat and a bar card," McAfee said, then the prosecutorial appointment is "within the district attorney's discretion" and that alone. Willis has defended her lover, who never tried a felony case beforehand, making "much more money than the other special prosecutors only because Wade did much more work."
Indeed, he put in the work, it seems. Wade's cellphone data shows he made midnight trips to a condominium Willis was subletting. He also was allegedly given a garage-door opener to access the condo, seemingly the hook-up hub, whenever he wanted. Willis and Wade texted like lovestruck teenagers, and "a prevalence" of their calls happened "in the evening hours."
The affair's origins are at the crux of the defense's argument that the "self-serving" arrangement compromised the Trump case by tainting the prosecution from its outset.
From the father of Willis, who was more of a character than a character witness, we learned Willis once dated "Deuce" the disc jockey; her dad is a frat bro, proudly repping his historically black fraternity in the courtroom; and he purportedly had exclusive knowledge of the COVID-19 pandemic's coming prior to 2020. Publicly testifying in his daughter's defense, John C. Floyd, III, seized the opportunity to shamelessly plug his movie script (titled "Bad Blood"), memoir, and documentary filmmaking project.
He also name-dropped Nelson Mandela, whom Floyd claimed he worked to free in South Africa. Formerly a high-ranking Black Panther and co-founder of its political party faction, the DA's father previously called the police an "occupying army" and "the enemy," considered Malcolm X his "patron saint," and adopted black nationalism as a guiding ideology. Also, Floyd claims to have dated communist activist Angela Davis, who was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives list for murder and kidnapping.
It seemed Floyd broke the rules of sequestration. Without much prompting from the cross-examiners, almost verbatim, Floyd's testimony supported Willis's side of the story, hitting all the talking points she spewed to a T. Floyd admitted he was "prepped" beforehand and suggested Willis "may" have been present at the time of this "prep session." On the eve of his testimony, Floyd listened to the radio discussing the disqualification proceedings "for five hours," affirming he was aware of what Willis testified to.
The defense was additionally seeking to dismiss the grand jury indictment as "fatally defective."
"Ultimately, dismissal of the indictment is not the appropriate remedy to adequately dissipate the financial cloud of impropriety and potential untruthfulness found here," McAfee decided, adding: "There has not been a showing that the Defendants' due process rights have been violated or that the issues involved prejudiced the Defendants in any way. Nor is disqualification of a constitutional officer necessary when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available." Aka the Willis-Wade ultimatum.
However, on Wednesday, McAfee did dismiss some of the charges, including three counts against the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee. But, many of the other charges are still intact in the sprawling 2020 election interference case.
The allegations are not detailed enough in terms of sufficiently specifying "the underlying felony solicited," he indicated.
McAfee noted that the prosecution could seek a re-indictment "supplementing these six counts." Even if the statute of limitations has expired, the state receives a six-month extension from the date of McAfee's order to resubmit the case to a grand jury.
So, the prosecutors can refile the charges with greater detail or appeal McAfee's decision altogether.
Judge McAfee also denied the defendants' request to dismiss the indictment--a widely expected outcome.
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) March 15, 2024
"There has not been a showing that the Defendants’ due process rights have been violated or that the issues involved prejudiced the Defendants in any way," McAfee writes. pic.twitter.com/T4uWQrBGBe
Today's findings are "by no means an indication that the Court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorney's testimony during the evidentiary hearing," McAfee stressed. "Rather, it is the undersigned's opinion that Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices—even repeatedly..."
Other forums or authorities, such as the General Assembly, the State Ethics Commission, the state bar, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, or even the electorate, "may offer feedback on any unanswered questions that linger," McAfee countered.
Last week, Willis was essentially handed a "Get Out of Jail Free" card by the Fulton County Board of Ethics when the local oversight panel decided not to hear two citizen-submitted complaints accusing the Democrat DA of prosecutorial misconduct.
Pointing to a jurisdictional issue, the board's chairman, a former Obama administration appointee, declared that the county's ethics code does not apply to Willis because she is a state constitutional officer, not a county official. Although the board is not necessarily "precluded from acting" in response to the ethics complaints filed by two Fulton County residents, a board member said, they decided other officials in the legislative and judicial branches are already examining the DA's actions "with greater rigor and detail." So, "it makes sense, therefore, that we elect to decline the chance to rule one way or another regarding her actions."
Willis is still staving off separate Republican-led investigations by a Georgia state Senate special committee and the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which is currently looking into allegations of federal funding misuse against the Fulton County DA's office.
The congressional committee's chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), has threatened to hold Willis in contempt of Congress if she continues to refuse to cooperate with their investigation. Willis has two weeks to produce the documents they subpoenaed or potentially face "the invocation of contempt of Congress proceedings," Jordan warned. The deadline is by March 28.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member