Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., blasted as “nonsensical” the ruling of a Fulton County (Ga.) judge not to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the 2020 election case against former President Donald Trump and 14 co-defendants.
“Today is a sad day for Georgia,” Graham said in a statement.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that the romantic relationship between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade proved bad optics and said that one of them had to go. Wade stepped down from the case Friday afternoon.
“This ruling is nonsensical,” Graham said in a statement Friday. “When it comes to the prosecution of President Trump and others in Fulton County, Georgia, politics hangs heavy in the air.
“The charges brought by Fulton County DA Willis and the bizarre decision by the judge not to remove her for an obvious appearance of impropriety reinforces the narrative that there is a two-tiered system of justice for President Trump and those around him,” he added.
The attorney for co-defendant Michael Roman argued that both Willis and Wade should be removed for enriching themselves in the case against Trump and the co-defendants. The attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, alleged Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then improperly benefited from the prosecution of the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations for the two of them.
McAfee wrote there was insufficient evidence that Willis had a personal stake in the prosecution.
“The established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team — an appearance that must be removed through the State’s selection of one of two options. The Defendants’ motions are therefore granted in part,” McAfee wrote in his ruling.
Trump attorney Steven Sadow also panned the ruling, saying McAfee didn’t go far enough.
“While respecting the Court’s decision, we believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade, including the financial benefits, testifying untruthfully about when their personal relationship began, as well as Willis’ extrajudicial MLK ‘church speech,’ where she played the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism,” Sadow said in a statement.
Graham wrote he hopes that “either the Georgia State Senate or the state’s Attorney General will look into this matter.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.