Im Arlette Saenz at the white house. And this is cnn cnns, Breaking News i knew are in the cnn newsroom. Im wolf blitzer in washington. This morning. Were following all the reparations from the monumental ruling in the criminal case against donald trump In Georgia The Judge has just ruled Fulton CountyDistrict Attorney, fani willis, can continue Prosecuting Trump and his allies in the Georgia Election subversion case. But she may only stay only state if the special prosecutor, nathan wade, who had a relationship with willis is removed, if willis and her team had been disclosed hello, fight, it would almost certainly have delayed a trial until after the president ial election in november. That is something trump desperately wanted in all of this. And as other legal cases as well, cnns Nick Valencia is just outside the Fulton County courthouse for acidic. Can you walk us through this mornings historic ruling . Wolf . It was historic, Monumental Decision Fani Willis getting a technical win, but a massive indictment on her behavior coming down in this ruling from judge scott mcafee, he did say that there was no evidence of a through line that she financially benefited from her relationship with her lead prosecutor, nathan wade, but he was highly critical of that relation kinship between them, saying that georgia law does not permit an actual conflict for bad choices, even repeated ones. And heres what hes saying in part of that decision. This its finding is by no means an indication that the court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorneys testimony during the evidentiary hearing, and it was its during her testimony on february 15th, earlier this year that she was fired up going so far as to call ashleigh merchant, the Defense Attorney that brought forward these claims a liar, but in this ruling, judge scott mcafee saying that fani willis had her own credibility issues on the stand. We did hear from steve sadow, hes the attorney for the former president , and we should expect an appeal but in the meantime, Big Questions remain. When will we see nathan wades Resignation Letter . That is one of the most principal questions. And will the District Attorneys Office be able to get this case . Back on track before the election. Will mid valencia with the latest thank you very much. Lets continue this discussion with our analysts joining us now, cnn chief Legal Affairs correspondent paula reid, our national correspondent, kristen holmes, and cnn senior legal analyst, elie honig who is a former federal prosecutor paula, let me reiterate or repeat what we just saw. Part of the ruling. Very strong words from this judge. This finding is by no means an indication that the court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorneys testimony during the evidentiary hearing. Thats very very Strong Language. Yeah. Theres a lot of Strong Language in here. This is an incredibly high stakes decision, and the judge had to show his work. He found that he believed that there was a pattern of bad behavior thats what a lot of the Strong Language is about. But ultimately that fani willis was not engaged in some sort of scheme to profit off of this case, which is why he is letting her stay on this case, but hes asking for nathan wade to be removed or the office itself to just remove themselves from the case, but its never a good day. Well when the judge overseeing the most highprofile case in your portfolio questions your judgment because if you read this 23 page statement in the Superior Court of Fulton County, state of Georgia State of georgia, versus donald john trump, rudolph William Lewis to giuliani. And these others. Mark meadows and these other codefendants in this particular case, the language is incredibly tough very strong, and let me get elie honig two way and let me read another part about nathan wade now listen to this elie very strong statement. Wades patently unpersuasive explanation for the inaccurate interrogatories he submitted in his pending divorce indicates a willingness on his part to wrongly conceal his relationship with the District Attorney as the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the Financial Exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney or even whether their romantic relationship has resumed. Le how damaging is that as all of this for a prosecutor . Well, if this is bottom line of victory for fani willis, but its a pyrrhic victory. Its a very costly victory, both to her and nathan wade, one of whom has to go now, spoiler alert. Its going to be nathan wade, who leaves the case, but lets remember, these people are prosecutors. Nathan wade is functioning as a prosecutor on the most important case is that that office has ever brought or that theyve ever seen in the state of georgia. And now we have the judge calling out as you just showed in that segment the veracity, the truthfulness of nathan wade. He all but says nathan wade lied on the stand and he has similar language a little bit toned down from that, but calling Into Question whether fani willis was truthful when she took the stand. So nathan wade is going to get kicked off the case. He has to go i actually think fani willis ought to think about whether she takes herself off the case, a conflict of interests is something that you need to monitor as a prosecutor to protect the case itself. And if it reaches a point where an individuals involvement in the case is going to shed public doubt. On the case itself, comes down that a prosecutor and i include fani willis needs to think about whether the right thing for the case is for her to step aside given these rulings, very strong words indeed, krystian, we heard a very strong Statement Released very quickly from the trump legal t. Thats right. Just to reiterate how the campaign has become the legal side of this. We got this from the attorney, but then also reaching out to the campaign. This is the statement that they pointed out too, so we havent heard from donald trump on the campaign directly of Stephen Steve sadow, lead Defense Counsel for President Trump in the Fulton County, ga. Exactly. Thats his lawyer. So this is what he says while respecting the courts decision, we believe that the court did not afford appropriate significance to the Prosecutorial Misconduct of willis and wade, including the financial benefits testifying on truthfully about when their personal relationships began, as well as willis extra judicial mlk, quote, Church Speech, where she played the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism we will use all Legal Options available to continue to fight to the end of this case, which should never have been brought in the first place. That shows that theres going to be an appeal there which nick had mentioned. It also shows that they want this to be their official line, that they wanted fani willis off the case, that this is something they believe should never have been brought forward. However, when im talking to trump sources on background who are not public, they are saying that this is a when they believe that there is a lot that in this ruling that they can spin to their benefit politically, they believed that taking nathan wade off the case is good for them. They dont know whos next two will be the next Special Counsel suffer prosecutor in this case. It could be someone who they have more information on. They just theres a lot of unknowns here. Also. The other part of this, theyre happy because they believe that this will delay it past the november election, which is something that theyve been working on time and time again in all of his various cases. They want to delay as much as possible paul. Apparently fani willis the District Attorney, will stay on this case. Theres no indication she will resign or anything like that, right . Thats exactly right. And look, the underlying case remains largely intact earlier this week, the judge to dismiss six of accounts. They can always bring us back to a grand jury and add them back in and remedy some of the issues but its unclear if this case is going to go before the election. If former President Trump is reelected, its unclear at that case, would go in the next four years or at all. I mean, obviously the Trump Lawyers at some point are going to have to defend our client in a court of law based on the facts and the law. But until that time, they have two goals. One is to delay. They have succeeded with help from this process to disqualify her have these allegations and then also to undermine the credibility and the prosecutors and in the Justice System and the conduct here has helped trump achieve both of those. So yes, the underlying case remains intact. Fani willis continues to oversee it unless she steps aside. But it is hard to see how this is a win for fani willis or for the Justice System writ large because i think a lot of folks are going to look at this and have some questions. Yeah, these 23 pages, how much does it damage her case right now, potentially, the underlying case remains intact, right. Theres no question about the credibility the case yesterday. In fact, the judge, even when he dismissed those six counts. So look, you have still supported these allegations. Quiet well, but theres some specific counts where you lacked enough detail to allow them to to prepare their defense. But when it comes to the court of Public Opinion, this whole episode, this effort to disqualify the allegations that came to the surface, the conduct, this is damaging because to the average voter, they dont understand why you would be sleeping with a person heading up the most high a profile case of your career and one of the most significant in the land, and they probably also have some questions about the hundreds of thousands of dollars he was he received. Now, the judge said that the amount he was paid was not inappropriate. But again, were talking about the court of Public Opinion. This was a forced error and a gift a gift to former President Trump. He doesnt even have to make things up. This is thats right. Well, then im just one day want to add here is that this is all about messaging for former present dropped, as we know, he wants to play all of this out in the court of Public Opinion. He doesnt want to just go to trial. He wants to walk up to the cameras at trial and talk about how this is a witch hunt. This is democratic. Democrats coming after him because he is running for president. Its all about messaging for the former president , so he can use the language in this that scathing language that you just read to spin this as a win for him and saying that this she had lapses in judgment should this case have even been brought. Again, legally, one side, Public Opinion messaging. Thats completely different you know, its interesting. Elie, the judge hinted a gag order may actually be necessary for fani willis. Tell us why and what would that how would that happen . Yeah, thats a really remarkable part of the ruling. Its sort of towards the end and its the b story line, but its important here now, this refers to the Church Speech that i think paula referenced earlier, a few days after the defendants made this motion to disqualify fani willis. She went in public in a church with cameras rolling and essentially said that the reason that this motion had been brought was racism, and the judge says, in his ruling that that was an a legally inappropriate statement for the da to make his absolutely right. A prosecutor cannot make inflammatory public statements about the defendants. Theyre the ones who have their rights at issue. And the judge basically said it may be necessary to put a gag order on the da that tells you something. I mean, look, fani willis has made in my view and in the judges you improper public statements throughout this case. Shes given dozens of public interviews. Shes given her opinion on Donald Trumps guilt before the grand jury even voted on this, which is improper. And so its pretty rare. I dont think ive ever seen it before where a judge has said, we may need to slap a gag order on the prosecutor. Prosecutors are supposed to operate under gag orders. Anyway, prosecutors like to say we do are talking in court here, fani willis as violated that principle. And the judge has taken note of it. Yeah. Lots to digest, de la paula, kristen, to all of you. Thank you very much. Joining us, dow cnn legal commentator, james scholz, a former lawyer in the trump white house. James, thanks very much for joining us. This is a win for fani willis. She gets to stay on as da, but how do you expect trump and his codefendants to respond down the road . Look, i think first of all, i think theyve theyve already kind of telegraph that theyre going to appeal this, right . And the question of the appeal is going to be, isnt going to be appeal that can be taken interlocutory, which has now that will then tie up the case even further, or do they are they going to have to wait until after the case to have the appeal heard. Theres probably pretty strong argument and the judge would have to agree to this, that it gets taken up now, because if the Appellate Court rules the other way and finds that the trial judge air committed error in this case as far as the log those then the case gets moved on to what it goes to that panel. And then could potentially get moved onto another prosecutor from another county, so that thats thats the next step legally in this case. And you have to remember on appeal the veracity of the witnesses, those types of calls that the judge made in his opinion, the truthfulness of those witnesses, the truth, nobleness of fani willis, the truthfulness of wade. Well all have to be taken at face value as if they are on the determinations of the trial judge, the appellate judge wont look into those determinations, but whether the appropriate standard was applied, and especially in this case where you have okay. One of them has to get off the case hey so if one of them has to get off the case because of the appearance of impropriety. What about the entire time the case was ongoing and thats something i think the Appeals Court is going to have to look at. Yeah. Im sure youre right. What does this beam, james for the strength of fani willis, this case right now so look to xis taken a couple of hits, right . It was a big deal that they dismissed, not legally a big deal, but but but from a Public Relations perspective, the fact that they dismissed those six counts earlier in the week for lacked of factual basis, if you will, or notice to the defendant is significant in this case. It and its a significant blow to the politics of this, the pr of this. It gave donald trump and his team and republicans. One other thing to talk about. Now this case and the scathing opinion as to her conduct the conduct of wade is another political and pr win for trump as it relates to the legality the case, i think it just this is just going to this will slow down the process. Ive said from the beginning, i dont think theres any chance this case is heard prior to the election. Certainly not. Now, you you dont see the possibility that this specific trout could be heard before the election no, ive never really thought that this was going to make it its a lot of counts, its a lot of defendants. Rico cant clay cases typically take a really long time and now you have all these missteps all along the way. Theres no way this gets done before november interesting are james scholz, appreciate it very much. Were going to continue this conversation ahead also to come, it was like a bomb going off. Thats how a sheriff is describing the damage from deadly storms that ripped through the midwest. 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