Ethics experts back up Fulton DA in Trump conflict-of-interest dispute
ATLANTA — District Attorney Fani Willis does not have any conflicts that warrant her disqualification from the Fulton County election interference case, according to a group of 17 ethics experts, former prosecutors and defense attorneys.
The coalition — which includes former Georgia-based federal prosecutor Amy Lee Copeland, onetime DeKalb DA J. Tom Morgan and Richard Painter, the top White House ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration — filed a “friend of the court” brief late Monday laying out why Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee should dismiss multiple court motions alleging Wills acted improperly.
“Disqualifying conflicts,” the group wrote, “occur when a prosecutor’s previous representation of a defendant gives the prosecutor forbidden access to confidential information about the defendant or a conflict otherwise directly impacts fairness and due process owed a defendant.”
“That kind of conflict is not at issue here,” they said.
Five defendants in recent weeks, led by former Donald Trump campaign official Michael Roman, have argued that Willis has an untenable conflict of interest created by a previously undisclosed romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the outside attorney she hired to spearhead the racketeering probe. Trump and 14 other defendants currently remain in the case.
