Judge, Detecting ‘Odor of Mendacity,’ Rules That Willis Can Prosecute Trump Case Only If Her Former Boyfriend Resigns — and He Promptly Does

Split decision by judge could open the way to further delays in the criminal case in Georgia against the 45th president.

Dennis Byron-Pool/Getty Images
The Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, appears before Judge Scott McAfee for a hearing in the 2020 Georgia election interference case at the Fulton County Courthouse on November 21, 2023, at Atlanta. Dennis Byron-Pool/Getty Images

The ruling that the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis, can prosecute President Trump notwithstanding a “tremendous lapse in judgment” only if she fires her special prosecutor and former boyfriend, Nathan Wade, could set up an appeal that will push the trial even further into the future.

Mr. Wade, who has never prosecuted a felony case before the district attorney named him special prosecutor, resigned on Friday afternoon. He writes in a letter to Ms. Willis that he is “offering my resignation in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public, and to move this case forward as quickly as possible.” He declares that the “furtherance of the rule of law and democracy is and has always been the North Star of our combined efforts.”

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