By Kate Brumback —
The Associated Press
Fulton County (Georgia) Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee could decide in the coming hours in a key case for the future of the judicial process in this state against former President Donald Trump for alleged interference in the 2020 elections.
McAfee on Friday heard arguments to keep or remove county District Attorney Fani Willis from the case over her romantic relationship with the case's special prosecutor, Nathan Wade.
Lawyers for Trump and another defendant, Michael Roman, argued that there is a conflict of interest that undermines public trust.
Fani Willis, district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia.
AP
John Merchant, Roman's attorney, told the judge that "if the court allows this type of behavior to continue, all public confidence in the system will dissipate."
If McAfee denies the request to disqualify Willis, “there is a good chance” that an appeals court will overturn that ruling and order another trial, he said.
Lawyers for Trump and other defendants allege that Willis paid Wade large sums of money for his work and then improperly benefited when Wade paid for vacations for both of them.
Willis, for his part, admitted the relationship with Wade but denied any wrongdoing.
Willis's disqualification would delay Trump's trial until well after the 2024 presidential election, and would possibly sink the arguments against him, legal experts told NBC News, sister network of Noticias Telemundo.
For a new prosecutor to take on the sprawling 15-defendant case would be a “massive task,” said Amy Lee Copeland, a former federal prosecutor in Georgia, adding that that prosecutor could also change the charges or even “decide not to pursue the case.”
Under a 2022 Georgia law, when a district attorney is disbarred, the case is referred to the executive director of the Georgia District Attorney's Council, who is charged with finding another for the case.