Citing a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct, a fourth co-defendant in the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump has filed a motion to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from office. In the 2020 election, David Shafer, the Georgia GOP Chairman and a GOP presidential elector for Georgia, claimed that Willis had engaged in “a pattern of prosecutorial, forensic misconduct” that should disqualify anyone associated with her, including her office and prosecution staff.
Co-defendant Michael Roman made accusations that Willis had a “improper” relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she engaged to pursue the extensive racketeering case against Trump, which led to this petition. Although Willis acknowledged having a “personal” relationship with Wade, he disputed having a conflict of interest, claiming that a district attorney cannot be removed from office without cause if the conflict would not be detrimental to the case of the defendant.
In addition, Shafer’s motion highlights Willis’s history of making biased public remarks about the case in speeches and appearances with the media, which he claims were meant to “inject and infect the jury pool.” Shafer specifically objects to remarks Willis made at Atlanta’s Bethel AME Church, viewing them as an effort to paint criticism of her behavior or Wade’s as being driven by race.
In court documents from last month, it was claimed that soon after Wade was named a special prosecutor, he charged Fulton County for twenty-four hours of labor in a single day, and that Wade’s taxpayer-funded salary benefited Willis financially. Shafer contends that Willis’s hiring of Wade and the money paid to him while permitting Wade to cover the District Attorney’s personal costs and vacations amount to a disqualifying conflict of interest and maybe a criminal and ethical transgression.
Shafer is asking that the evidentiary hearing that was originally scheduled for February 15 be continued. At that hearing, information will be submitted in an attempt to persuade the court to strike Willis and her office from the case. The extraordinary scrutiny and controversy surrounding the prosecution of the case against Trump and his associates about the 2020 election is highlighted by this ongoing judicial battle.