A Georgia appeals court Thursday disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the 2020 election interference case against President Trump and co-defendants.

The panel cited Willis’s relationship with ex-special prosecutor Nathan Wade.

According to The Hill, the panel described the relationship as a “significant appearance of impropriety.”

BREAKING – The Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office from the 2020 election interference case against Trump in a bombshell decision

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) December 19, 2024

The decision will likely destroy the entire case.

The Georgia Court of Appeals just ruled that Fani Willis must be disqualified from the 2020 election case – along with her entire office.

Very likely the death knell of the entire case. They’d need to find another county willing to take it on. pic.twitter.com/qrUMmWpWEv

— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) December 19, 2024

From The Hill:

The court declined to outright dismiss Trump’s indictment, but disqualifying Willis’s office throws the future of the case further into doubt, which was already complicated by Trump’s impending return to the White House.

“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office,” the court wrote in its ruling.

BREAKING: Fani Willis has been disqualified from the Fulton County election lawfare case by a Georgia Appellate Court.

This is a HUGE legal victory for not only President Trump but all of the co-defendants who were targeted alongside him. pic.twitter.com/HBWoTiN6WR

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) December 19, 2024

WATCH:

The Georgia Court of Appeals has disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from her prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump and his co-defendants in their election interference case.

The indictment against Trump still stands. https://t.co/5mH4WDn1Cf pic.twitter.com/4Hlxl8N0du

— ABC News (@ABC) December 19, 2024

Per NBC News:

The court did not go so far as to completely dismiss the case, and Georgia law allows for the case to be assigned to a different county prosecutor in the state. But legal experts have said that is likely to be a difficult task given the complicated, political and novel nature of the case brought by Willis.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAffee had found that an “appearance of impropriety” was created by Willis’ romantic relationship with Wade and determined one of the two needed to leave the case. Within hours of that decision, Wade resigned.

But the appellate court said McAffee’s decision did not prevent the “appearance of impropriety.”

“The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring,” the court said. “While we recognize that an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.”