Georgia Supreme Court declines to let Fulton County DA Fani Willis return to Trump election interference case

CNN The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on her removal from the matter prosecuting President Donald Trump and his alleged co-conspirators over their efforts to overturn the ballot The incident against Trump and his co-defendants will be referred to the Prosecuting Attorneys Council in Georgia according to a message from Willis It will be up to the council a bipartisan collaboration of six district attorneys and three solicitors general from across the state to decide whether a new prosecutor will be appointed to pursue the event The council s executive director Peter Skandalakis announced he would be responsible for appointing a new prosecutor He notified CNN he could also take the affair on his own The court in a - decision backed an appeals court s decision to disqualify Willis in December over her romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she appointed to the development Writing for the majority Justice Andrew Pinson wrote the lower court s decision does not raise a question of gravity that warrants our further review Justice Carla Wong McMillian wrote the dissenting opinion saying that guidance from the high court would be desirable given the confusing nature of the incident Willis declared in a announcement that she disagreed with the court s decision not to review her appeal but that she respected the legal process I hope that whoever is assigned to handle the affair will have the courage to do what the evidence and the law demand she noted The president speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday called the ruling a great decision and criticized Willis prosecution as a rigged scenario Trump was indicted on state charges in Fulton County in August the fourth indictment he faced that year Trump was charged alongside co-defendants on racketeering charges Willis accused them of participating in a conspiracy to unlawfully change the results of the presidential polling in Georgia which Trump lost that year The president won Georgia last year against then-Vice President Kamala Harris Willis a Democrat faced mounting scrutiny throughout her grand jury research and following the indictment of Trump and his co-defendants One of Trump s co-defendants Michael Roman moved to dismiss the indictment and disqualify Willis for her romantic relationship with Special Assistant District Attorney Nathan Wade stating that Willis had a personal financial interest in the incident Steve Sadow Trump s lead defense attorney on the event announced Tuesday the high court correctly denied allowing Willis to return Willis misconduct during the analysis and prosecution of President Trump was egregious and she deserved nothing less than disqualification This proper decision should bring an end to the wrongful political lawfare persecutions of the President Sadow stated in a report Chief Justice Nels Peterson did not participate in the decision and Justice Benjamin Land was disqualified from the decision