Georgia election case: Trump lawyer says lead prosecutor should be disqualified

A lawyer for Donald Trump told a Georgia judge on Friday (March 1) that the lead prosecutor who charged the former United States president with election interference in the state should be disqualified because she may have lied to the court about her undisclosed affair with a special prosecutor, the news agency Reuters reported.

During a court hearing in Fulton County, Trump's lawyer Steve Sadow said that Fulton County District Attorney (DA) Fani Willis’ claim under oath that her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade did not begin until after she hired him was not credible.

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“Now, do you have to find that Wade and Willis lied? No. What you need to be able to find is that there is a concern - a legitimate concern - based on the evidence, in this case, about their truthfulness. A legitimate concern about the truthfulness, which equates to an appearance of impropriety. Because once you have the appearance of impropriety under forensic misconduct, the law in Georgia is clear. That's enough, to disqualify,” Sadow told Judge Scott McAfee

“Once you have the appearance of impropriety ... the law in Georgia is clear: That's enough to disqualify," he added.

The case

The case is related to Trump and 18 others indicted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential elections in Georgia. A nearly 100-page indictment detailed dozens of acts by Trump or his allies to undo his defeat, including beseeching Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to find enough votes for him to win the battleground state; harassing an election worker who faced false claims of fraud; and attempting to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electoral college electors favourable to Trump.

“The indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia’s legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result,” Fulton County DA Willis said in August last year.

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The case's focus apart from indicting Trump and others shifted to Willis' relationship with special prosecutor Wade and its impact on therelationship on the case. In a 127-page filing, Trump co-defendant Michael Roman sought Willis' disqualification over her "improper, clandestine personal relationship" with Wade.

Roman alleged a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade and said that the Fulton DA contracted Wade without the required approval by Washington.

'No evidence that DA benefitted financially'

Countering Sadow's remarks in court, Prosecutor Adam Abbate said that three days of evidentiary hearings yielded "zero evidence" showing how Willis' relationship harmed the defendants' constitutional rights to due process.

“For all the reasons, obviously stated before, Your Honor, that this motion should be...not be....should be denied because the legal requirements by, that are required in order for the district attorney to be disqualified have not been satisfied, the defendants have failed to raise any issue, legally or factually, to satisfy the legal standard for, disqualification," Abbate told Judge McAfee.

"They must show an actual conflict. They've been unable to show that the prosecution of this case was at all a result of political bias, which has been, accused, or accusations have made, as well as demonstrated that the prosecution of this case was motivated by any means or any way because of malicious prosecution, and they haven't been able to prove that this case was one of selective prosecution for political benefit or gain," he added and requested the judge to deny defence counsel's motion to disqualify Willis.

Judge McAfee, meanwhile, said that several legal issues had to be sorted, and "several factual determinations that I have to make, and those aren't ones I can make at this moment."

"And so I will be taking, at the time to make sure that I give this case full consideration its due, I hope to have an answer for everyone within the next two weeks,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)