Georgia appeals court disqualifies DA Fani Willis from Trump election interference case

The Georgia Court of Appeals voted 2-1 on Thursday to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the 2020 election interference case involving President-elect Donald Trump.

The court did not go as far as throwing out the indictment.

“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office,” Judges Todd Markle and Trenton Brown wrote in their majority ruling. 

"We reverse the trial court’s denial of the appellants’ motion to disqualify DA Willis and her office. As we conclude that the elected district attorney is wholly disqualified from this case the assistant district attorneys — whose only power to prosecute a case is derived from the constitutional authority of the district attorney who appointed them — have no authority to proceed," they wrote.

The judges also wrote that the "remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring."

Judge Benjamin Land was the sole dissent.