ATLANTA – In an embarrassing blow to the prosecutor investigating former President Donald J. Trump’s election meddling, an Atlanta judge has disqualified Fulton County prosecutor Fani T. Willis from developing a criminal case against an ally of Trump, because of a conflict of interest.
Ms. Willis recently notified state senator Burt Jones, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in Georgia, that he could face charges. But on Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C.I. McBurney banned her from bringing a case against Mr. Jones for headlined a June fundraiser for his Democratic rival in the race.
Mr. Jones was one of 16 pro-Trump “alternative voters” in Georgia who were sworn in on the same day as the state’s legitimate presidential election, casting their vote for Joseph R. Biden Jr. Ms. Willis’s office had recently warned pro-Trump voters, as well as another state senator and the head of the Georgian Republican Party, that they could face charges in the case.
Monday’s verdict will not affect any other part of the extensive investigation that Ms. Willis’s office is conducting with a special jury. Yet it underscores the complicated political terrain that lies ahead of Mrs Willis, a first-term Democrat.
“She has granted the imprimatur of office to Senator Jones’ opponent,” Judge McBurney wrote in his decision. He added: “This scenario creates a clear – and current and untenable – conflict. Any decision the prosecutor makes about Senator Jones in connection with the grand jury investigation is necessarily tainted with it.”
The ruling does not mean that Mr Jones cannot be investigated. Ms. Willis’s office, the judge wrote, will still be able to ask witnesses about Mr. Jones’s role “in the various efforts the Republican state has made to question the legitimacy of the election results.” However, he wrote that the decision “whether charges should be filed, and what they should be, will be left to another prosecution.”
The choice of a new prosecutor to adjudicate whether charges should be filed against Mr. Jones will ultimately be made by the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, a group that sets policies and rules for prosecutors across the state.
Peter J. Skandalakis, the group’s executive director, said in a statement Monday that “it may be best” to wait for the special grand jury to complete its work before involving another prosecutor. He noted that Mrs. Willis could no longer call Mr. Jones as a witness or issue subpoenas for his documents. But he said the special grand jury, which issues an advisory report after meeting for up to a year, may continue to investigate Mr Jones’s conduct.
The lawyer of Mrs. Willis had argued that the fundraiser she led for Charlie Bailey, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, took place during a primary between two Democratic candidates, and that a mailing before the event clearly showed it was related to the runoff, not the election. general election match against Mr. jones.
The judge acknowledged that those facts were called “rightly” but said that what was “more relevant — and more damaging — to the integrity of the grand jury investigation is that the die had already been cast on the other side of the political divide.” . and that whoever won the second round would “meet Senator Jones.”
Key Revelations from the January 6 Hearings
The ruling came a few days after Judge McBurney criticized Ms Willis in a hearing last week for her participation in the fundraiser, calling it a “what-you-thinking moment”. The judge also expressed concern that the prosecutor, as “the legal counsel to the grand jury”, “talked about this investigation to the national media almost every night.”
While the House select committee in Washington investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack has shown how Mr. Trump and his allies sought to undermine election results in several crucial states, it is Ms. Willis’s investigation that brings Mr Trump and his allies are in the most immediate legal danger.
The judge’s ruling on Mr. Jones is likely to have limited implications for Ms. Willis’ wider investigation, as the ruling only concerns one of 16 pro-Trump alleged voters.
Jeff DiSantis, a deputy district attorney for Fulton County and a spokesperson for Ms. Willis, said Monday that the office was reviewing the order and “considering a possible course of action.”
The Georgia investigation is gaining attention as it engulfs more of Trump’s allies and advisers. Trump’s personal attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, has been ordered by a judge to testify on Aug. 9. Lawyers for South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham fight attempts to force him to testify.
Ms. Willis is also seeking testimony from John Eastman, an architect of the legal strategy intended to keep Mr Trump in power, as well as other attorneys — Kenneth Chesebro, Jacki Pick Deason, Jenna Ellis, and Cleta Mitchell — who played an important role in the effort.
Eleven of the other pro-Trump alleged voters in Georgia asked Judge McBurney to disqualify Ms. Willis from investigating them as well, but the judge denied their request, saying none of them had shown that Ms. Willis’s office had been “hampered.” due to a conflict of interest” in their cases. The judge also denied their attempt to quash the subpoenas they had received.
The pro-Trump purported voters will appear before the special grand jury later this week, which will meet behind closed doors at a courthouse in downtown Atlanta.
The fact that Mr. Jones could be charged has brought a certain amount of drama to the Georgia lieutenant governor’s race, one of several races closely watched across the country in the southern state of the United States. battlefield. Mr. Bailey, an attorney who previously worked with Ms. Willis in the district attorney’s office, has accused Mr. Jones of participating in a “failed attempt to overthrow the US government.”
Mr Jones said in a statement Monday that the judge’s ruling was a “huge victory” for him, accusing Mr Bailey of conducting a “smear campaign”.
In a separate case on Monday, a federal judge said she would reject an attempt by U.S. Representative Jody Hice to evade a subpoena asking him to testify before the special grand jury. Mr Hice, a Georgian Republican and staunch ally of Trump, led a challenge in the House of Representatives in January 2021 to certify Georgian voters.
The lawyers of Mr. Hice had argued that he was not required to comply with the subpoena, in part because of the protections afforded to members of Congress by the Constitution’s speech and debate clause.
Although U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Martin May said Mr. Hice should testify, she also said there might be some limits on what he should discuss. That matter, she said, would be resolved by lawyers at an upcoming court date.