ATLANTA — One year ago this week, Ashleigh Merchant said she was watching "just like the rest of the world" as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis unveiled a sweeping election interference case against the former president and 18 others.
She soon became a major player in the case, taking up the defense of one of Trump's co-defendants: GOP campaign operative Michael Roman.
Merchant filed a motion that upended the case in January, accusing the DA of having a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor tapped to help lead the prosecution.
The Fulton County District Attorney's office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.
Willis and that special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, later admitted they indeed had, for a time, shared a relationship -- though both argued it never interfered with their ability to impartially prosecute the case.
Merchant and other defense attorneys disputed that, claiming the relationship created a conflict of interest. They asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee—who is overseeing the case—to disqualify the entire district attorney's office. That question is now before the Georgia Court of Appeals, and until it is resolved, the case cannot proceed to trial. A ruling isn't expected until 2025.
That means voters will cast their ballots in November without knowing the outcome of former president Trump's Fulton County case.
During an interview for 11Alive's Sunday politics show, The Georgia Vote, Merchant said she has no regrets.
"I think what caused the voters to not know what happened in this case is Ms. Willis and her actions," said Merchant. "Not me bringing to light those actions."
"They had a choice and could have done it differently," she added.
The attorney said she was professionally obligated to defend her client.
"I know that there were a lot of supporters of Ms. Willis, and so I knew that there was going to be some backlash," she continued. "But I did what I had to do."
The defendants in the case are accused of interfering with the 2020 election proceedings. Some call them election deniers. Merchant is unconcerned with the criticism.
"It's ironic that people bring that up," she said. "For 20 years, I've been a criminal defense lawyer, and I've represented people that are accused of some really bad things, but yet I get more pushback from this case."
"I think that everyone deserves to have a good, zealous defense, and I think if we don't have people checking the government's power, then we're in a very scary place in this country," added Merchant.