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 development prosecuting President Donald Trump and his alleged co-conspirators over their efforts to overturn the electoral contest The matter against Trump and his co-defendants will be referred to the Prosecuting Attorneys Council in Georgia according to a declaration 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 occurrence The council s executive director Peter Skandalakis reported he would be responsible for appointing a new prosecutor He reported CNN he could also take the situation 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 matter 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 event Willis mentioned in a message 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 scenario 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 incident 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 vote 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 study 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 development Steve Sadow Trump s lead defense attorney on the event declared Tuesday the high court correctly denied allowing Willis to return Willis misconduct during the study 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 announced in a comment Chief Justice Nels Peterson did not participate in the decision and Justice Benjamin Land was disqualified from the decision