The Fulton County Board of Ethics was initially set to hear complaints against District Attorney Fani Willis over her relationship with Nathan Wade. Defense attorneys in the Trump RICO case claim that Willis benefitted from the relationship by hiring Wade as a special prosecutor.
But after initially agreeing to hear two complaints against Willis, the Fulton County Board of Ethics decided against that action after determining that it does not have jurisdiction to hear the complaints.
Willis is a state constitutional officer, not a county officer. As a result, the Georgia State Ethics Commission would have to hear the complaints.
In a statement, Fulton County Board of Ethics Chairman Daraka Satcher said, “The Fulton County Code of Ethics, our code of ethics, only applies to county officers and employees.”
But while an alleged affair between Willis and Wade has created controversy, there’s no basis under Georgia Law to disqualify Willis or Wade from continuing to prosecute the Trump RICO case.
Under Georgia Law, a prosecutor is disqualified from a case due to a “conflict of interest” when the prosecutor’s conflicting loyalties could prejudice the defendant leading to an improper conviction. Georgia law states, “[t]here are two generally recognized grounds for disqualification of a prosecuting attorney. The first such ground is based on a conflict of interest, and the second ground has been described as ‘forensic misconduct.’
The RICO case centers around the 2020 election probe when Trump asked former Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during a phone call to help him secure over 11,000 votes, the amount in which he trailed Joe Biden in Georgia.
During a recorded call that took place on Jan. 2, 2021, Trump told Raffensperger, “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
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