Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis received an update in her attempt to block subpoenas from a Republican-led probe into her relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade after Judge Scott McAfee recused himself from her effort.
Willis, a Democrat, charged former President Donald Trump for allegedly seeking to interfere with the election results in Georgia, a swing state that narrowly backed President Joe Biden in 2020. Her case focused on Trump’s call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump asked him to find enough votes to tilt the 2020 election in his favor, as well as an alleged plot to submit a false slate of pro-Trump electors to the Electoral College. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
However, the case was upended after a defense attorney representing one of Trump’s co-defendants accused her of having a relationship with Wade, who she hired to lead the prosecution.
Defense attorneys alleged the pair benefited from taxpayers’ money, arguing she should be disqualified from the case. Willis has admitted to having the relationship with Wade but said their relationship began only after he was already hired, denying allegations of wrongdoing. McAfee in March ruled that Willis only needed to remove Wade from the case, allowing her to stay on.
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On Tuesday, McAfee declined to rule on Willis’ efforts to block the subpoenas requested by a Georgia state senate committee investigating her relationship with Wade, according to legal documents first reported by Atlanta-based news station 11Alive.
He raised concerns about whether his ruling on her efforts would be a conflict of interest, as he is also overseeing the election interference case.
“The court concludes that its impartiality might be reasonably questioned in this matter as the underlying petition may require the undersigned to consider factual legal conclusions already issued in Indictment Number 23SC188947,” he wrote.
The effort will now be “randomly” assigned to another judge, according to order. Two other judges also recused themselves from the effort, the news station reported.
Newsweek reached out to Willis’ office for comment via email.
The subpoenas are compelling Willis to hand over documents related to the case of the former president, as well as her relationship with Wade, 11Alive reported. She filed a motion to quash the subpoenas on September 4.
They were issued by the Senate Special Committee on Investigations, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The committee is led by Republicans, who hold majorities in Georgia’s state legislative bodies.
The legislature set up the special committee to “thoroughly investigate the allegations of misconduct by the district attorney for Fulton County, Fani Willis” related to alleged “potential conflicts of interest and misuse of public funds.”
Willis has maintained that she has not committed any wrongdoing and has described the investigation into her as “unlawful.” Her case against Trump has faced delays as a result of court proceedings into her relationship with Wade, sparking criticism from some legal analysts.
