Fani Willis got ‘the best bad decision’ in Georgia. What happens next in Trump’s election subversion case

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will be allowed to continue prosecuting Donald Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants for their alleged scheme to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results.

But only if the lead prosecutor and a former romantic partner she hired was willing to step down.

The judge overseeing the case against Mr Trump and more than a dozen of his allies rejected their attempts to dismiss the case and refused to disquality Ms Willis following hours of testimony and arguments over allegations that she financially benefited from Nathan Wade’s hiring.

A decision from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee on 15 March offered her a choice: she can remove herself from the case, along with her entire office, or Mr Wade can step aside.

Hours later, Mr Wade submitted his letter of resignation to Ms Willis.

His departure leaves the district attorney with broad discretion to either bring on another outside prosecutor, or rely on her deep bench of assistant district attorneys, and quickly move to get the case against Mr Trump and his allies back on track.

Judge McAfee’s decision was “the best bad decision that the DA could get,” according to Amy Lee Copeland, a former appellate chief at the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Georgia.

The judge clearly articulated Georgia law regarding conflicts of interest and the appearance of impropriety in such cases, and found that “something had to change,” Ms Copeland told reporters on 15 March during a virtual briefing from the Defend Democracy Project

“The court said either the DA’s entire office can leave or … the DA can say goodbye to Mr Wade and move forward,” she said.

Ms Willis is imminently expected to make a decision on