How Fani Willis' Donald Trump Case Changes Without Nathan Wade

The prosecution of former President Donald Trump's RICO case is undergoing a major shakeup and likely losing one of its prosecutors, after a highly anticipated order was issued by Judge Scott McAfee on Friday.

McAfee finally ruled on the months-long fight over the disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, finding that while there was no actual conflict of interest posed by Willis' romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, the "appearance of impropriety" must be addressed before the case can move forward.

Ultimately, the judge decided that if Willis wants to continue prosecuting Trump and his allies over their alleged efforts to interfere with Georgia's 2020 election, Wade will have to withdraw from the case.

"If I'm Fani Willis, I think it was probably the best-case scenario," Atlanta-based defense attorney Robert Wilson told Newsweek. "She doesn't have to ask Wade to remove himself, which would almost be an admission that there is a conflict. And I think the consensus among the lawyers I had spoken to was that Wade should move on anyway. Now Wade can step aside and the DA's office has cover via the court order."

Wilson previously served on Trump co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro's defense team, before his client reached a plea deal with prosecutors.

Noah Pines, another defense attorney serving the Atlanta area, told Newsweek he would hope that Wade would resign by lunchtime Friday so that the focus of the case could go back to the allegations made in the indictment rather than the scandal that has dominated headlines since Willis and Wade's relationship was made public in January.

But will the case proceed as planned and could losing Wade be a major setback for the prosecution?

Experts say as long as Wade steps aside as expected, there won't be a big impact on the case.

"I suspect Wade was never going to be that involved in trial," Wilson said, adding that the prosecution could lose some "institutional knowledge" that Wade had garnered during the special-purpose grand jury. But Wilson noted most of that is likely well documented anyway.

Wilson added that, to his knowledge, Wade had not had any prior experience with complex felony cases, and that based on testimony from former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes, "it sounded like Wade was more of a project manager" on the case.

"Maybe that's a loss to Willis, but it is hard to read the tea leaves," he said.

Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade also told Newsweek: "My understanding was that he was mostly managing the case, as opposed to preparing to try it himself, so it seems that she could replace him with someone else who is a capable litigation manager.

Willis is also unlikely to delay the case by seeking an external replacement for Wade.

"There are several other assistant district attorneys who have been working on this case, who are more than capable of taking over as lead prosecutor," Pines said. "There is no need to look further than her own office to prosecute this case."

Former federal prosecutor and elected state attorney Michael McAuliffe agreed, telling Newsweek that the prosecution is "fully capable of proceeding without delay." And Wilson added that with Atlanta lawyer John Floyd on the prosecution, Willis' office should already have the best of the best working on the case.

"I'm not sure why she would try to find a replacement," Wilson said. "John Floyd is on the team, and he literally wrote the book on RICO. He should be more than qualified to handle such a case."

Floyd, who has been described as "the Michael Jordan of RICO," has spent his legal career pursuing public corruption and gang crime. In 2007, Floyd was among the first lawyers to file suit against the pharmaceutical firm Allergan for marketing Botox for unauthorized uses. The suit resulted in the company's admission of guilt and a $600 million settlement.

Update 3/15/24, 12:06 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Barbara McQuade.