Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr agrees with the Georgia Appeals Court's ruling kicking Fulton County DA Fani Willis off the Trump election interference case, saying she "created her own conflict" of interest.
In a statement on Monday morning reacting to the appellate court's disqualification decision, Carr said Willis was "rightfully removed" from prosecuting President-elect Donald Trump and his allies. Carr, a GOP candidate for Georgia governor, lamented how lawfare has become "far too common in American politics" and said it "must end."
Please see my statement below on Fulton County DA Fani Willis. pic.twitter.com/2ATSw3t10V
— GA AG Chris Carr (@Georgia_AG) December 30, 2024
Accordingly, Carr urged the state's Supreme Court not to take up the Democrat DA's appeal, should she ask the highest court in Georgia's judiciary system, known colloquially as the court of last resort, to rule on the prosecutorial misconduct matter.
"It's our hope that the DA will now focus taxpayer resources on the successful prosecution of violent criminals in Fulton County," the state's attorney general added.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who is term-limited and cannot seek reelection in 2026, concurred with Carr, who is, to date, the only declared Republican contender in the gubernatorial race. "Georgians deserve safe communities and partisan politics out of our courtrooms," Kemp said.
Kemp adds his voice, seconding AG Chris Carr #gapol https://t.co/bMqvvdZI3Q
— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) December 30, 2024
In response, Willis accused Carr of being "more focused on the politics of the 2026 Republican gubernatorial primary rather than the law."
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"If Mr. Carr cannot separate his ambition to become Governor from his duties as Attorney General, he should resign and focus on being a full-time candidate rather than serving as a constitutional officer sworn to uphold the Constitutions and laws of the United States and Georgia," wrote Willis, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Greg Bluestein.
On X, Trump's lead defense attorney, Steve Sadow, called the district attorney's "knee-jerk response" to Carr's statement "vintage Willis."
"She pays her hand-picked, prosecutor-lover nearly a million dollars, attempts to conceal her intimate relationship from the citizens of GA until exposed in a motion, blatantly attempts to paint the accused as racists in a speech in an historic Atlanta Black church upon being exposed, and her overall conduct and testimony in court give rise to the trial judge finding an 'odor of mendacity,' but she wants AG Carr to resign for telling the truth. SIMPLY DUMBFOUNDING!" Sadow said.
Willis paid special counsel Nathan Wade, her lover whom she had hired to spearhead the prosecution, over $770,000 in county funds for his work on the Trump case. According to court filings, Wade then took portions of his taxpayer-funded paycheck to treat Willis to an array of luxury trysts around the world, including cruises in the Caribbean.
Trial court Judge Scott McAfee, who's presiding over the criminal proceedings, allowed Willis to remain in charge of the case, so long as Wade resigned in order to resolve an "appearance of impropriety that infect[ed] the current structure of the prosecution team." Wade recused himself within hours of McAfee's court order, sparing Willis.
Trump appealed, and the Georgia Court of Appeals was set to hear oral arguments on the issue in early December. However, without explanation, the hearing was abruptly canceled until further notice. A month later, the three-judge panel, all GOP appointees, issued their decision finding that the trial judge had "erred" in not outright disqualifying Willis as well as Wade.
"While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings," the 32-page ruling read, declaring the lower court's "remedy" insufficient. Removing only Wade "did not cure the already existing appearance of impropriety" and the "odor of mendacity" that lingered, the legal body wrote.
Sadow, while responding to Carr's reaction, noted that the Georgia Supreme Court "only grants discretionary review in cases of great concern, gravity, or importance to the public" under Rule 40, which establishes the legal standard for granting review. The trial court "factually found a 'significant appearance of impropriety,' but abused its discretion by failing to disqualify" both Wade and Willis, said Sadow. "This decision [at the appellate level] is nothing more than [an] appropriate remedy ruling."
The indictment against Trump is now without a prosecutor since Willis is "wholly disqualified" along with the rest of her office. Per the court order, her deputy DAs, "whose only power to prosecute a case is derived from the constitutional authority of the district attorney who appointed them," also hold "no authority to proceed."
Georgia's non-partisan prosecutorial agency, called the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council, will decide whether to appoint a different district attorney or a special prosecutor to take over. They could, conversely, decline to move forward altogether.
Nevertheless, the odds are low that anyone would be willing to take the case.
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