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For much of this year, the high-profile case took a detour as Mr. Trump and his co-defendants sought to disqualify Ms. Willis, claiming that her romantic relationship with Nathan J. But last month, Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton Superior Court ruled that an actual conflict of interest did not exist. He allowed Ms. Willis to keep the case, though only if Mr. Wade stepped aside to resolve an “appearance of impropriety.” Mr. Wade resigned after the ruling. Lawyers for Mr. Trump and other defendants have asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to reverse the decision. The court, which leans conservative, has until mid-May to decide whether to take up the matter.

Persons: Willis, Donald J, Trump, Nathan J, Wade, Scott McAfee, Mr Organizations: Trump, Fulton Superior Court, Mr Locations: Fulton County ,, Fulton, Georgia

☆ Live updates: Fani Willis ruling on Georgia Trump election case
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks at a press conference next to prosecutor Nathan Wade after a Grand Jury brought back indictments against former president Donald Trump and his allies in their attempt to overturn the state's 2020 election results, in Atlanta. Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters/FileDuring testimony last month, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis described the end of her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute the 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump. Both Wade and Willis said the relationship ended in summer 2023. Willis implied that the physical component ended earlier in the summer, but that the two had a “tough conversation” that fully ended things afterward. “We would have brutal arguments about the fact that I am your equal,” she told the judge about her conversations with Wade.

Persons: Fani Willis, Nathan Wade, Donald Trump, Elijah Nouvelage, Wade, Willis, sully, ” Willis, ” Locations: Fulton County, Atlanta

The ruling was not related to a defense effort to disqualify Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., who is leading the case. Count 5 concerned a call that Mr. Trump made to David Ralston, who was then the speaker of the Georgia House. During that conversation Mr. Trump pressed Mr. Ralston to call a special legislative session to appoint new electors. Mr. Trump and his former personal lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, had faced the most charges, at 13 apiece. They include Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff, and John Eastman, a legal architect of the plot to deploy fake electors in swing states that Mr. Trump lost.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Scott McAfee, Fani, Willis, “, importuned, Brad Raffensperger, ”, McAfee, Steven H, Count, Raffensperger, Joseph R, Biden, David Ralston, Ralston, Rudolph W, Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Ray Smith III, Robert Cheeley, Anthony Michael Kreis, Kreis, Donald Trump, ” Norman Eisen, Eisen, Smith’s, Don Samuel, Ray Smith, Brian Kemp of, Nathan Wade Organizations: Fulton Superior Court, Prosecutors, Count, Trump, White House, Georgia State University, Act . Defense, Gov, Republican Locations: Atlanta, Georgia, Fulton, Fulton County ,, Brian Kemp of Georgia

☆ A Prosecutor in the Trump Georgia Case Resigns
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Justin Porter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Wade resigned from the Georgia Trump caseNathan Wade resigned today from his post as special prosecutor in the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump. The move came after an Atlanta judge told Fani Willis, Wade’s boss and former romantic partner, that she and her office could keep the case only if Wade stepped down. With delays mounting, the case against Trump and 14 co-defendants, which is related to efforts to undo Trump’s election loss in Georgia in 2020, is unlikely to come to trial before the November election. Willis emerges from weeks of embarrassing hearings and headlines with a bruised reputation that could color the views of a future jury, making convictions more difficult. Another Trump trial: A New York judge delayed Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan until at least mid-April, postponing the only one of his four criminal cases that appeared set to begin.

Persons: Wade, Georgia Trump, Nathan Wade, Donald Trump, Fani Willis, Wade’s, Scott McAfee, Willis, Trump Organizations: Trump Locations: Georgia, Atlanta, Fulton County, York, Manhattan

☆ Takeaways From the Ruling on Georgia Trump Prosecutor’s Conduct
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Danny Hakim | Richard Fausset | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The much-anticipated ruling on whether Fani T. Willis should be disqualified from prosecuting former President Donald J. Trump and 14 of his allies in Georgia came on Friday, requiring her to make an unusual decision. Wade, a former boyfriend, withdraws from the case, which she hired him to manage. For much of this year, headlines and hearings delving into the romantic relationship between the two prosecutors have overshadowed the case itself, in which the defendants are charged with conspiring to thwart the will of Georgia voters after Mr. Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. Defense lawyers brought to light the relationship between the prosecutors, saying it had created an untenable conflict of interest. But Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton Superior Court rejected that argument on Friday, while sharply criticizing Ms. Willis for a “tremendous lapse in judgment.”

Persons: Willis, Donald J, Trump, Nathan J, Wade, Scott McAfee, ” Organizations: Fulton Superior Court Locations: Georgia, Fulton County ,, Fulton

But McAfee’s 23-page opinion was a scathing rebuke of the district attorney’s actions, and it remains unclear if Trump will face trial before November on his actions after the 2020 presidential election. McAfee ruled that either Wade or Willis would have to leave the case, as an “odor of mendacity remains” over the circumstances of their relationship. “A perceived conflict in the reasonable eyes of the public threatens confidence in the legal system itself,” McAfee wrote Friday. “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 wrote.

Persons: Scott McAfee, Fani Willis, Donald Trump –, Nathan Wade, Willis, Wade, It’s, Trump, McAfee, ”, Mike Roman, Willis ’, ” McAfee, Willis wasn’t, Willis –, SADA, untruthfully, Wade “, “, Will Wade, there’s, –, ” CNN’s Devan Cole Organizations: CNN, White House, Trump, Manhattan District, US, Attorney, District, District Attorney, ” Locations: Fulton County, Georgia, Washington, New York, –, reimbursements, Atlanta

☆ Highlights of the Judge’s Decision in the Georgia Trump Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Charlie Savage | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A judge overseeing the criminal election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump in Georgia declined on Friday to disqualify the district attorney leading the prosecution, Fani T. Willis, over a romantic relationship she had with the lawyer she hired to manage the case, Nathan J. But even as the judge, Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, rejected the claim by one of Mr. Trump’s co-defendants, Mike Roman, that the relationship raised an actual conflict of interest by giving Ms. Willis a financial stake in the case, the judge also ruled that it raised “a significant appearance of impropriety.”The judge gave her two choices: either Mr. Wade leaves her prosecution team, or she and her office must step aside from the case.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Fani, Willis, Nathan J, Wade, Scott McAfee, Trump’s, Mike Roman Organizations: Fulton County Superior Court Locations: Georgia, Fulton County

☆ How Revelations of a Prosecutors’ Romance Upended the Georgia Trump Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Merchant, a lawyer for one of the defendants in the Georgia election interference case, charges in a court filing that Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, engaged in a “clandestine” relationship with Nathan J. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Ms. Willis says racism is a factor in the scrutiny of her hiring of Mr. Wade. An affidavit from Mr. Wade asserts that the romantic relationship started only after he was hired. A former friend of Ms. Willis, Robin Bryant-Yeartie, says she has “no doubt” the two started a romantic relationship earlier than they have said. But Mr. Wade, testifying for several hours, firmly denies Ms. Bryant-Yeartie’s claim.

Persons: Ashleigh B, Willis, Nathan J, Wade, Martin Luther King Jr, Ms, Trump, Robin Bryant, Yeartie, Bryant Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta

☆ For This Rookie Judge, a Pivotal Decision Looms in the Georgia Trump Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Danny Hakim | Richard Fausset | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For Judge Scott McAfee, it was probably an awkward moment. At a hearing in Atlanta last month, he issued a warning to his former boss, Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, during her combative turn on the witness stand. Ms. Willis, who was fighting allegations that threatened her grip on the election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump, had grown so irritated with a defense lawyer that she began expressing her frustration directly to the judge. “I’m going to have to caution you,” the soft-spoken Judge McAfee, of Fulton County Superior Court, told her in response. Legal experts generally agree that Ms. Willis used poor judgment in paying a romantic partner public funds while he was also at least partly paying for vacations they took together — the basis for the defense argument that she engaged in “self-dealing.”

Persons: Scott McAfee, Fani, Willis, Donald J, Trump, “ I’m, McAfee, ” Ms, Willis’s, Judge McAfee, Nathan Wade, ” Organizations: Fulton County Superior Court Locations: Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia

At some point in the coming weeks or months, the Georgia criminal case against former President Donald J. Trump and his allies will presumably focus once again on the defendants and whether they conspired to overturn Mr. Trump’s election loss there in 2020. Now it is unclear whether the case will even remain with Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, since lawyers for Mr. Trump and other defendants are seeking to have her entire office disqualified. The controversy has also provided fresh fodder for Mr. Trump and his allies, who are adept at exploiting their opponents’ vulnerabilities. Mr. Trump was already making inflammatory attacks on Ms. Willis even before her relationship with Nathan J. Wade, the lawyer she hired to help run the election interference case, came to light.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Fani, Willis, Nathan J, Wade Organizations: Mr, Georgia Senate Locations: Georgia, Fulton County

CNN —A hearing that could derail the election subversion case against Donald Trump and others in Georgia is underway as a judge considers whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified. It’s unclear if another prosecutor in Georgia would even be inclined to take up the case from Willis, given its political and legal challenges. Wade and Willis acknowledged in court filings that they had a personal relationship but deny any wrongdoing. McAfee called for the hearing Thursday to “establish the record on those core allegations” against Willis and Wade and their relationship. “We are focusing on what the judge asked us to show him – the personal and financial benefits that Willis got from Wade,” Merchant told CNN.

Persons: Donald Trump, Fani Willis, Trump, Willis, Nathan Wade, disqualifying Willis, Wade, there’s, Willis’s, Scott McAfee, McAfee, “, ” McAfee, ”, Trump’s, Mike Roman, Wade’s, San, Ashleigh Merchant, ” Merchant, ’, Merchant, Roman –, Terrence Bradley, Bradley, “ Bradley, Peter Skandalakis, ” Skandalakis, Norm Eisen, Obama, Eisen Organizations: CNN, Georgia RICO, Miami, Trump, Merchant –, ’, of Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, San Francisco, Wade, Fulton, of Georgia

☆ Georgia Trump Case Pivotal Hearing Could Stall Prosecution of Election Interference
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Richard Fausset | Danny Hakim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade acknowledged the relationship in a February court filing. Lawyers for Mr. Roman and other defendants are seeking to disqualify the two prosecutors from the case. Defense lawyers argue that the money paid to Mr. Wade creates an incentive for Ms. Willis to prolong the case. She said that the costs of the couple’s personal travel had been “divided roughly evenly” between her and Mr. Wade, so it represented no financial conflict. Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, the presiding judge in the Trump case, was persuaded that there was sufficient reason to hold an evidentiary hearing delving into the relationship.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, — Fani, Willis, Nathan J, Wade, Mr, Michael Roman, Scott McAfee, “, Wade’s Organizations: Trump, Mr, Fulton County Superior Court Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta

☆ Takeaways From the Hearing in the Georgia Trump Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Richard Fausset | Danny Hakim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

It was one of the most striking developments yet in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump and his allies: The two lead prosecutors took the witness stand Thursday in a daylong hearing, with defense attorneys grilling them about their personal lives. The defense is arguing that Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and her office should be disqualified and removed from the prosecution, accusing her of benefiting financially from a relationship with the lead prosecutor that she hired to manage the case, Nathan Wade. If the judge removes them from the case, it would delay and potentially derail a proceeding that has major implications for the 2024 presidential election. Here are takeaways from the combative hearing:

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Fani Willis, Nathan Wade Locations: Georgia, Fulton County

Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., had no shortage of doubters when she brought an ambitious racketeering case in August against former president Donald J. Trump and 18 of his allies. It was too broad, they said, and too complicated, with so many defendants and multiple, crisscrossing plot lines for jurors to follow. But the power of Georgia’s racketeering statute in Ms. Willis’s hands has become apparent over the last six days. While Ms. Powell pleaded guilty only to misdemeanor charges, both Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Ellis accepted a felony charge as part of their plea agreements. A fourth defendant, a Georgia bail bondsman named Scott Hall, pleaded guilty last month to five misdemeanor charges.

Persons: Willis, Donald J, Trump, Willis’s, Sidney K, Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, Chesebro, Ellis, bondsman, Scott Hall Organizations: Trump Locations: Fulton County ,, Georgia

Sidney K. Powell, a member of Donald J. Trump’s legal team after he lost the 2020 election, pleaded guilty on Thursday morning to six misdemeanor counts instead of facing a criminal trial that was to begin next week. She was among 19 defendants, including Mr. Trump, who were indicted in August for their efforts to subvert the election results in Georgia. Ms. Powell, 68, who appeared in a downtown Atlanta courtroom, was sentenced to six years of probation for conspiracy to commit intentional interference of election duties. Prosecutors said in court that Ms. Powell had given them a recorded statement on Wednesday as part of her plea deal. Ms. Powell has also agreed to turn over documents in her possession related to the case.

Persons: Sidney K, Powell, Donald J, Trump Organizations: Prosecutors Locations: Georgia, Atlanta

Removing a case to federal court requires persuading a judge that the actions under scrutiny were carried out by federal officers as part of their official business. Earlier this year, Mr. Trump failed in his attempt to move a New York State criminal case against him to federal court; his argument in that case was seen as particularly tenuous. Presiding over the hearing on Mr. Meadows’s motion Monday was Judge Steve C. Jones of United States District Court in Atlanta. The judge ruled that the law was clear that “state court proceedings continue” until a decision has been reached on removal. Judge Jones is an Obama appointee to the federal bench who has been moving quickly regarding the removal question.

Persons: Trump, Steve C, Jones, Judge Jones, Meadows’s, Scott McAfee, Judge McAfee, Brian Kemp, Willis, Obama Organizations: New York State, United States, Court, Fulton County Superior Court, Republican, Federalist Society Locations: New, Atlanta, Fulton, Fulton County

☆ Election Workers Named as Victims in the Georgia Trump Indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Jon Kamp | Arian Campo-Flores | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

Mr. Trump was also charged with attempting to obstruct an official proceeding — the certification of the election results by Congress. The indictment said Mr. Trump and six unnamed co-conspirators had pushed state legislators and election officials to change electoral votes won by Mr. Biden to votes for Mr. Trump. The July indictment accused Mr. Trump, Mr. De Oliveira and Mr. Nauta of trying to delete Mar-a-Lago security footage. Once he was sworn in as president, Mr. Trump reimbursed Mr. Cohen. Rather than publish her account, the tabloid suppressed it in cooperation with Mr. Trump and Mr. Cohen, prosecutors say.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, Jack Smith, Alvin L, Bragg, Joseph R, Biden Jr, Biden, Prosecutors, Mike Pence, Mr, Smith, Walt Nauta, Smith’s, Carlos De Oliveira, De Oliveira, Nauta, ’, Stormy Daniels, Michael D, Cohen, Daniels, Karen McDougal, McDougal, Bragg’s, Juan M, Merchan, “ Trump, Merchan’s, Mimi E, Rocah, Letitia James, James, Donald Jr, Eric, Ivanka Trump, Maggie Haberman, Glenn Thrush, Jonah E, Rebecca Davis O’Brien, Michael Gold, Michael Rothfeld, Ed Shanahan, Richard Fausset, Ashley Wong Organizations: Mr, Capitol, Federal, Court, Congress, Justice Department, Mar, Manhattan, National Enquirer, Trump Tower, U.S, Trump Organization, Trump National Golf Club Westchester, New York, Civil, New, Trump Locations: Manhattan, Lago, United States, Palm Beach, Fla, Mar, New York, Westchester County, Bromwich

The special purpose grand jury is different than a typical grand jury — it submits its findings in a report to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who then decides whether to present evidence to a grand jury for criminal indictments. Willis called for the special grand jury last year because the panel had the power to issue subpoenas to force witnesses to testify. Because we won the state,” Trump said in the call. Trump has maintained he did nothing wrong in the Raffensperger call and described it as “perfect.”It's unclear when the grand jury report might become public. McBurney's order said the grand jury "certified that it voted to recommend that its report be published."

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