Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr urged the Georgia Supreme Court not to accept the appeal launched by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after she was disqualified from prosecuting the state’s 2020 election case against President-elect Donald Trump.
The attorney general, who recently became the first Republican to launch a 2026 gubernatorial campaign, posted a statement to the social media platform X that accused Willis of creating “her own conflict” in the Trump case, alluding to the district attorney’s romantic relationship with her former special prosecutor, Nathan Wade.
While Willis avoided disqualification from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee after her relationship with Wade was discovered, the judge allowed the defendants to appeal his decision, leading the Georgia Court of Appeals to disqualify Fulton County’s top prosecutor from the case earlier this month. Willis immediately signaled her intention to appeal.
“The Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled that the Fulton County DA created her own conflict and rightfully removed her from the case again Donald Trump,” said Carr (pictured above).
“‘Lawfare’ has become far too common in American politics, and it must end,” Carr stated. “As such, I would encourage the Georgia Supreme Court not to take her appeal. It is our hope the DA will not focus taxpayer resources on the successful prosecution of violent criminals in Fulton County.”
The state attorney general’s condemnation of the “lawfare” targeted at Trump comes after he downplayed the significance of the president-elect’s endorsement in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Trump endorsed Carr’s primary opponent in 2022, and Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, a longtime Trump supporter, is reportedly considering a run for governor.
“I think endorsements certainly matter to some people, but at the end of the day, what’s going to matter is who gets 50 plus 1 percent of the vote in Georgia in May of 2026,” Carr told the outlet. “I’m not going to be anti-anybody. I’m going to be pro me.”
Carr similarly offered more measured remarks about Willis’ criminal case against Trump in his December 19 interview with AJC.
Telling the newspaper, “it’s happening on both sides of the aisle,” the attorney general offered, “One of the things we need to do in politics is stay in our lane… I would just suggest it is not going to serve our nation well if we go after our political enemies if we don’t like what they’ve done, in office or not.”
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Georgia Supreme Court Building” by Harrison Keely. CC BY 4.0.
