On Thursday, a judge in Atlanta, Fulton County District Attorney Fannie D. Willis, former President Donald J. The stakes will be high on Thursday as it seeks to determine whether Trump should be disqualified from impeachment on election interference charges.
Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Ms. If Willis is determined to have a conflict of interest that merits disqualification, his decision would disqualify his entire office by extension.
The case is then transferred to a different Georgia prosecutor, who may proceed with the case as is, make major changes — such as adding or dropping charges or defendants — or drop the case entirely. The latter decision, after the 2020 election in Georgia. The former president sought to overturn his loss in the state, ending prosecutions for actions by Trump and his allies.
A state agency called the Georgia Council of Prosecutors must find someone else to take over the case. More specifically, the council's executive director, Pete Scandalakis, is an experienced former prosecutor.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Scandalakis said Trump may ask a lawyer to voluntarily prosecute the case. But he can also hire a lawyer to do the job – whether they like it or not.
Mr. Scandalakis said he might also try to find a lawyer in private practice to replace Ms. Willis. But that's an unlikely scenario, since he can only afford to pay such a lawyer about $70 an hour.
Mr. Scandalakis' options may be limited because few prosecutors' offices in Georgia have the size or budgets to prosecute a complex fraud case targeting 15 defendants, among them the former president of the United States and his former chief of staff.
Choosing a replacement will be a politically complex decision, sure to raise the hackles of partisans in one party or the other. DeKalb and Cobb counties, which cover densely populated parts of the Atlanta suburbs, have the two largest district attorney's offices in the state with the staff and budgets to handle the Trump case. Those offices are currently led by Democrats.
Republican Mr. Scandalakis could theoretically choose to appoint himself as the new prosecutor.
Mr. Skandalakis is considered fair-minded by many prominent Georgia Democrats. But Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has been criticized for moving slowly in trying to find a lawyer to consider whether Trump should face charges in the case.
In July 2022, a judge, Mr. Mr. Jones, who was working as a pro-Trump mock voter, was holding a fundraiser for one of Jones' political rivals. She prevented Ms Willis from pursuing a case against Jones. The substitute counsel was not named.
This week, Mr. Scandalakis declined to say how quickly a replacement for Ms. Willis could be found in the Trump case, if needed.
