So we've got breaking news. We're going to head back
actually to Georgia,
where the special prosecutor there,
Nathan Wade, who we just mentioned,
has actually resigned from Donald Trump's Georgia election trial.
As you know, we reported the judge's ruling Scott McAfee
today where he said that DA Fonny Willis could remain
on the case if Nathan Wade were to leave.
And it looks like what we were predicting has happened.
We've now received actually the letter that Nathan Raid Wade
wrote
to the office of Fulton County District Attorney there,
Fonny Willis, that he was going to remove himself from
the case.
And he says in this letter,
the furtherance of the rule of law and democracy is
and always has been the North Star of our combined
efforts in the prosecution of those
who are alleged to have attempt to overthrow the results
of Georgia's election as directed by the order in the
state of day and the in the case.
He says, I hereby offer my resignation And Fonny Willis
wrote him back.
Nathan Wade, she says, I will always remember and will
remind everyone that you were brave enough to step forward
to take on this investigation.
You are an outstanding advocate.
Please accept my sincere gratitude on behalf of the citizens
of Fulton County,
Georgia for your patriotism, courage and dedication to justice.
Let's bring in ABC News investigative reporter Olivia Rubin along
with former Georgia District Attorney prosecutor Chris.
ABC News contributor Chris Timmons.
So first, Olivia catches up to speed here.
I've just taken a quick look at this.
This comes as no surprise,
right? No surprise at all.
And I think you just hit the key points in
that letter saying from Nathan Wade that he is resigning
in the interest of democracy.
And I think what is so key to remember about
this decision that the DA's office made here,
Terry, is that this is the route that is going
to let them move forward with the prosecution of Donald
Trump as quick as possible.
You know, possibility of an an appeal aside,
efforts to appeal set aside.
This means that the case will move forward essentially effective
immediately because she is not stepping down.
So there is no need for the case to go
over to an independent body to have a new prosecutor
assigned to slow the case down in that way.
It prevents any further stalling in this sense.
So because of this decision,
the case now moves forward with the District Attorney and
her entire team that has been working on this case,
many of them for years,
years, Terry.
So Chris, we're all reading the letters here and I
don't know if you you both had a chance to
read both,
but the letter that Wade sent Funny Willis and then
Funny Willis's respond to Wade.
I I mean, they may have broken up and it
may not have worked out romantically.
But these letters, I mean,
I'm just addressing the elephant in the room here.
OK. But the the, the letters here,
they're very respectful. They clearly thought about what they said.
They're they're being very legal in the in what they're
writing but also kind of patting each other on the
back as in you know,
you were brave. You were great.
Glad we did this and
good luck and. And keep on with your adventure here.
Yeah. Me curious. So these letters were written in mind
with millions of people going to be reading them.
So I'm sure there were multiple drafts
in between the time that we got the ruling early
this morning and now.
So you know, I I think she knows what she
she wanted to say.
It's essentially a press release from both of them,
Nathan Wade, saying that you know now is the time
for us to put forward the interests of the citizens
of the United States,
the voters who voted in the 2020 election and to
put all of those things above himself.
So it's a very well written letter,
very gracious letter, but it does exactly what Judge McAfee
wanted to have happen.
In this case, that means that Nathan Wade is resigning.
There's no reason at this point for the state to
appeal his order.
Not that we thought that they were going to do
that,
but that removes any question of the state coming into
an appeal.
And then it sets up whether the defense at this
point wants to try to remove Fonnie Willis,
who remains. And so that's really where we are at
this point,
Kira, the worst. We've essentially got two press releases that
came out and they tell us importantly that those two
are off the case
or that that Nathan Wade is off the case.
That she. Right. And Chris,
if I can follow up and ask you a question
about,
you know, the judges a judge
Mcafee's order was so tough.
You know, he said there wasn't enough evidence to determine
a conflict of interest.
But that was in part because of what he said
was the odor of mendacity around their testimonies.
And what is the reaction of the of the public
been there and of the bar.
You know, these these letters are very effusive in their
language towards each other.
Is that opinion shared by the general public or is
this kind of a black eye on the Fulton County
District Attorney's office?
Well, so like I said,
the order of mendacity is not something you've ever once
said about you or your case as a prosecutor.
It's highly, highly unusual to see a judge criticize the
sitting District Attorney.
Keep in mind, this is not the only case she
has before Judge McAfee.
He can have up to 1000 criminal cases,
all of which are brought in the name of Fonnie
Willis pending in his courtroom at any given time.
So, you know, to use that kind of language toward
her,
I think was done thoughtfully,
but also to indicate his displeasure with the way that
this case has been treated up until this point.
Nevertheless, at the end of the day,
the DA's office, despite having these scathing comments written about
them,
is able to continue. And that's sort of what you're
getting from the bar,
is that this was not a good look on behalf
of Bonnie Willis or Nathan Wade.
There was even some confusion at the beginning of this
case as to why Nathan Wade was handling it.
Now it's sort of all wrapped up and I think,
you know, just like everything else,
all eyes on Georgia and let's move ahead with this.
With this trial
you've worked with Fanny Willis.
I don't know if you've worked with Nathan Wade.
Please tell me if you have or haven't.
But do you know? OK,
you have. So do you have any idea if if
they're still friends?
I I don't. So I'm not personal friends with either
one of them.
Nathan Wade was a long time defense attorney,
particularly had a number of cases up in Cobb County
and that's one of the jurisdictions where I was a
prosecutor,
you know, a good guy,
very nice, easy to work with,
thoughtful. So, you know, I'm not surprised that he stepped
down.
I'm a little surprised that the speed I thought they
might take a little bit of time,
you know, maybe do it Monday.
But you know, that's the credit to his character that
he represent.
He recognized that he was an impediment to this prosecution,
at least according to the judge,
and he removed himself and that impediment from the case.
I wouldn't have been surprised,
even if there was no disqualification of either one of
them,
for him to resign just to get him out of
the picture.
I think as Nathan Wade is,
you know, sitting in a courtroom,
particularly with a group of jurors,
those jurors are going to be thinking about the relationship
that he has with Fonny Willis.
So I think moving forward,
we won't see Nathan Wade obviously anymore.
But I don't think we're going to see much of
Fonny Willis in the courtroom.
Think she's going to try and remove herself in the
situation,
Get rid of that odor of mendacity that the court
talked about.
Get rid of, you know,
the image of her being unprofessional on the stand,
and let the facts of this case govern whether there's
guilt or innocence,
any of the defendants in this case.