A Georgia judge ruled on Friday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can remain in the game to prosecute Donald Trump—but the former president’s legal team wasn’t too happy about that, pledging in a statement that they would continue to fight.
“While respecting the Court’s decision, we believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade, including the financial benefits, testifying untruthfully about when their personal relationship began, as well as Willis’ extrajudicial MLK ‘church speech,’ where she played the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism,” Trump attorney Steve Sadow told CNN’s Kaitlin Collins. “We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place.”
Willis was accused of hiring special prosecutor Nathan Wade—a man she had a relationship with and who billed her office (and taxpayers) more than $728,000 in legal fees—for personal financial gain. The two have taken several international vacations together, which critics have claimed were partially bankrolled by public funds.
In his ruling, Georgia Judge Scott McAfee chastised Willis for what he described as a “tremendous lapse in judgment” in the affair, and even weighed putting a gag order on the district attorney’s office that would prevent them from discussing the case in public.
“The Court finds that the Defendants failed to meet their burden of proving that the District Attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest in this case through her personal relationship and recurring travels with her lead prosecutor,” McAfee wrote. “The other alleged grounds for disqualification, including forensic misconduct, are also denied. However, the established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team—an appearance that must be removed through the State’s selection of one of two options.”
Even though the decision wasn’t the one that Trump’s team was hoping for, the decision still benefited him, further delaying one of his several criminal trials before the presidential election.