Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been granted permission by Judge Scott McAfee to proceed with the prosecution of former President Donald Trump and 14 of his co-defendants in the Georgia 2020 election interference racketeering case. The ruling comes after a lengthy legal battle that involved allegations of a conflict of interest between Willis and her special prosecutor, Nathan Wade.
Attorney Ashleigh Merchant, representing Trump co-defendant Mike Roman, initially raised concerns about the relationship between Willis and Wade, claiming that they had lied about when it began and alleging financial benefits for Willis. Merchant pointed to financial statements discovered during Wade’s divorce proceedings, suggesting that Willis had benefited from lavish vacations funded by Wade after she hired him as special prosecutor in late 2021, as the investigation into Trump and his allies intensified. Willis vehemently denied any impropriety in their relationship.
The timing of the alleged romance became a central issue that temporarily derailed Willis’s prosecution against Trump and his allies. Willis testified on February 15, stating that she considered their relationship to have become romantic only in early 2022. Despite this controversy, the case will now proceed.
Upon assuming the role of District Attorney, Willis inherited a significant backlog of over 16,000 cases, partly due to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, she chose to prioritize the prosecution of Trump for his alleged attempts to manipulate the Georgia election in 2020. Willis dedicated three years to the investigation, resulting in 19 indictments after an extensive special purpose grand jury process.
In August 2023, Trump was booked into the Fulton County Jail on 13 counts related to racketeering, conspiracy charges, and solicitation of a public official to violate their oath of office. The indictment specifically accused Trump of unlawfully soliciting Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to violate his oath of office during their conversation, in which Trump sought assistance in overturning Georgia’s election results. The case includes a total of 41 charges, with the first being a violation of Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, known as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
The remaining 40 charges stem from various incidents that occurred after the 2020 election. These include false statements and solicitation of state legislatures and high-ranking officials, creation and distribution of false electoral college documents, harassment of election workers, solicitation of Justice Department officials and then-Vice President Mike Pence, unlawful breach of election equipment, and acts of obstruction. The indictment also alleges that several Trump allies committed specific crimes related to their involvement in the breach of voting systems in rural Coffee County, Georgia, as well as lying about their roles.
