ATLANTA — Former President Donald Trump and seven of his co-defendants now seek to have Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis removed from the 2020 election interference case.
Five co-defendants filed motions this week, joining ongoing efforts to remove the prosecutors, according to defense attorneys and documents obtained by 11Alive.
They are:
- Former Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer
- Former Coffee County GOP Chair Cathy Latham
- Former U.S. Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark
- Former Black Voices for Trump director Harrison Floyd
- Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
Trump, as well as codefendants Bob Cheeley and Mike Roman, previously filed motions to disqualify Willis. At least eight of the 15 co-defendants want her removed from the case.
RELATED: DA Fani Willis, Nathan Wade admit to 'personal relationship' but say they shouldn't be dismissed from Trump case
The increased push to disqualify Willis comes after her acknowledgement last week of a "personal relationship" with her special prosecutor Nathan Wade. They say the relationship began in 2022 — after he was appointed to lead Willis' investigation of Trump and his allies.
The romance allegations first surfaced in a motion filed by Roman last month. He alleged that Wade and Willis needed to be removed from the case because that Wade and Willis improperly benefited as a result of the relationship. Roman argued that Wade used some of the funds he received from working on the election case to pay for trips that he and Willis took to Napa Valley and the Caribbean.
Willis and Wade rejected those claims, arguing they shouldn't be removed from the case. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee set a hearing next week on the motions to disqualify.
Why do they want Willis disqualified?
Portions of the filings from Shafer, Latham and Clark mirror some of the arguments previously presented by their co-defendants.
The acknowledgment of the personal relationship coupled with remarks Willis made at an Atlanta church last month show that she should be disqualified from the election case, according to a motion filed by Shafer and later adopted by Latham.
They allege Willis "engaged in a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct" and that "the causes for disqualification are self-inflicted blows."
Like Roman, Shafer alleges that both Wade and Willis received improper financial benefits and misused taxpayer funds. Shafer also rejected claims that Wade and Willis split travel costs evenly, citing documents in Wade's Cobb County divorce case and records submitted by Willis in the Trump case last week.
"An evidentiary hearing is necessary to obtain a complete financial picture of the gifts and benefits which Mr. Wade has bestowed on District Attorney Willis," the motion reads.
Latham and Shafer further criticized Willis, saying her public comments about 16 Georgia Republicans who served as Trump presidential electors in 2020 were "improper" and "prejudicial." Willis used the term "fake" to describe the electors because they signed documents claiming Trump won Georgia after multiple recounts confirmed Joe Biden's victory.
Both Shafer and Latham, who served as Trump electors, insist they did not violate election law.
Shafer further alleges that Willis' prejudicial statements reached "a new high — or low" during her speech last month at Big Bethel AME Church.
Rather than address the allegations previously brought by Roman, Willis instead brought forward "unfounded allegations that anyone who dares question her or Mr. Wade’s conduct must have done so for racist purposes," Shafer said. Shafer alleges the purpose was to "infect" the Fulton County jury pool.
"Through her extrajudicial and prejudicial statements, District Attorney Willis has further weaponized the media, the public, and now even the church against him," Shafer's motion reads. "An evidentiary hearing on the matters set forth in the disqualification motions is critical for the parties and the Court to have sufficient information to understand the full nature of District Attorney Willis' misconduct and conflicts of interest."
Clark's motion to disqualify also mentions the personal relationship and Willis' church speech. However, Clark also alleges that Willis "exploited the powers of her office" when she tried to block a subpoena in Wade's divorce case.
Clark alleges that Willis threated Wade's estranged wife Joycelyn with criminal investigation and prosecution in a motion earlier this month "in flagrant violation of her duties as a prosecutor."
"These grave conflicts of interest and misconduct require disqualification of the DA and her entire Office ... and the indictment," a portion of Clark's motion reads. "None of them can be handwaved by the DA and her subordinates arguing that they are just about salacious sexual matters or office romances irrelevant to the Indictment. That attempt to trivialize the issues should be rejected in the firmest terms by the Court."
Floyd also made no new arguments in his filing, opting instead to adopt motions filed by codefendants, said his attorney Chris Kachouroff.
An attorney for Meadows said he filed multiple motions in the case this week but would not provide further details. Three defense attorneys representing other clients told 11Alive that Meadows adopted motions filed by codefendants that seek to remove Willis.
The new motions to disqualify were part of a flurry of motions filed earlier this week. Others include a request from Shafer to move the trial out of Fulton County, and a request from Latham to strike an allegation of perjury from the indictment.
Trump filed a reply to Willis Wednesday, doubling down on his claim that the DA should be disqualified from the case because of her comments during her church speech.
"Contrary to the DA’s response, Georgia law authorizes and compels the disqualification of the DA for her extrajudicial prosecutorial comments in violation of her special ethical responsibilities as a prosecutor. Once again, President Trump respectfully asserts that the DA’s egregious misconduct requires the dismissal of the indictment and her disqualification," said Steve Sadow, Trump's lead attorney, in a statement.
Ethics experts, former prosecutors and defense attorneys argue Willis shouldn't be disqualified
A group of 17 ethics experts, former prosecutors, and defense attorneys filed a brief Tuesday evening stating that Willis had no conflicts that should result in her disqualification, and that the motions against her can be dismissed without an evidentiary hearing.
The group alleges that defendants in the case have failed to provide sufficient evidence that Willis should be removed from the case and that the criminal charges should be dropped.
"We have no independent knowledge whether there was a personal relationship at the time of hiring or whether overall spending in the personal relationship was roughly evenly balanced. But even if all Defendants’ allegations are true, they do not mandate disqualification here. Indeed, they do not even come close," the brief reads.
Further, the group argues that nothing Willis said during her church speech rises to that level either because "they were not directed at a particular defendant, much less comments on the guilt of any defendant or indeed, the merits of the case at all."
The group of 17 includes former DeKalb County District Attorney J. Thomas Morgan, Georgia-based former federal prosecutor Amy Copeland, and former White House ethics attorney Richard Painter. Painter served in the George W. Bush administration.
What's next?
McAfee set a Feb. 15 hearing for the disqualification motions.
While the defendants want the hearing to go forward, the Fulton County District Attorney's Office wants the motions dismissed without a hearing. It's unclear if McAfee will reconsider the hearing.
If McAfee were to remove Willis and her office, the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia would be tasked with finding another prosecutor to take the case.
Two legal experts who previously spoke with 11Alive offered different opinions on whether Willis would be disqualified from the case.
Attorney Darryl Cohen, who previously represented Trump codefendant Trevian Kutti but is no longer involved with the case, said he thought Willis and Wade would not be disqualified.
"I think that the judge will look at it and he may — obviously he may do anything — but if I were to guess he would say this is not going to rise to 'you having to disqualify yourself or Nathan Wade but you guys need to be aware that you're under the hardest microscope ever,'" Cohen said.
Georgia State University College of Law professor Clark Cunningham said it would be premature to predict whether Willis will ultimately be disqualified, but reiterated his earlier call for Willis to step down to avoid any undue delays in the case.
"I do not think this disqualification matter is going to be resolved at the hearing on Feb. 15 or anytime soon thereafter," he said. "I think this is going to be a very very complicated."
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023. Four people have taken plea deals from prosecutors. The Fulton County District Attorney's Office wants an August trial date for Trump and the remaining 14 defendants.