Embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is showing no signs of backing down from her election interference case against former President Donald Trump — even after one investigator, Willis’ former romantic partner, was taken off the case.
Speaking with CNN on Saturday, Willis said that while news outlets were focused on the public hearings in which details of her relationship were aired, her team was continuing to work on the substance of the case.
“All while that was going on, we were writing responses and briefs. I don’t think that we’ve been slowed down at all,” Willis said from an Easter egg hunt event.
“I do think there are efforts to slow down this train, but the train is coming,” she added.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee gave Willis an ultimatum in a March 15 ruling: either Willis or attorney Nathan Wade had to remove themselves from the case.
Wade was the special prosecutor Willis admitted to dating after hiring him to help pursue the sprawling list of charges. Trump and more than a dozen other defendants are accused of playing various roles in efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election in the case.
CNN reported earlier this week that Willis intends to put Trump on trial before the Nov. 5 presidential election, potentially as soon as this summer.
Asked Saturday whether she felt the need to “reclaim” her reputation, Willis responded in the negative.
“Let’s just say it for the record: I’m not embarrassed by anything I’ve done. I guess my greatest crime is I had a relationship with a man, but that’s not something that I find embarrassing in any way, and I know that I have not done anything that’s illegal,” she told the outlet.
McAfee weighed the corruption accusations in his 23-page ruling. He determined that the question of Willis’ relationship with Wade created “a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team,” but that the problem would be taken care of if one of the two prosecutors left.
“Unlike an actual conflict, the finding of an appearance of impropriety does not automatically demand disqualification,” the judge wrote.
He admonished her, however, for a speech at a church in which she implied that attacks on her prosecution team were motivated by race, calling the remarks “legally improper” for a person in her position.
