Trump accuses DA Fani Willis of inappropriately injecting race into Georgia election case

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks in the Fulton County Government Center during a news conference, Aug. 14, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump said the district attorney in the Georgia election interference prosecution should be removed from the case, claiming she “inappropriately injected race into the case and stoked racial animus” in response to allegations of misconduct against her.

Defense attorneys Steve Sadow and Jennifer Little filed a motion Thursday joining an earlier effort by co-defendant Michael Roman to have Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, special prosecutor Nathan Wade and their offices thrown off the case. Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Roman, filed a motion Jan. 8 accusing Willis of having an inappropriate romantic relationship with Wade that resulted in a conflict of interest.

Willis has yet to respond publicly to the allegations of a romantic relationship between her and Wade. But she vigorously defended Wade and his qualifications in a speech during a service honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at a historic Black church in Atlanta on Jan. 14. She suggested during that address that the questioning of Wade’s hiring was rooted in racism.