Fani Willis Told to Recuse Herself From Trump Case or Face Jail

One of Donald Trump's co-defendants in his Georgia election interference case has threatened to launch legal action against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis if she "does not recuse herself from this case by noon on Monday."

The Context

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty to a number of charges in Georgia over allegations he broke the law attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in the state. This is one of four criminal cases Trump is facing as he makes his bid for a second White House term. Trump has consistently denied all the allegations against him, which he claims are politically motivated.

What We Know

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Harrison Floyd wrote: "I don't want to put a black woman in Jail. But if Fani Willis does not recuse herself from this case by noon on Monday, I may have no other choice than to pursue all lawful remedies. Make Fulton Great Again."

Floyd posted part of an article purportedly from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggesting that Willis' office shared a recording of a conversation Willis had with his attorney, Carlos J.R. Salvado, in an unrelated criminal case in Maryland.

Floyd suggested that Willis' office may have violated the Maryland Wiretap Act, under which it is unlawful to record any private in-person conversation or telephone communication unless you are a party to the conversation and have the permission of all of the parties.

While the majority of states have one-party consent laws that allow a conversation to be recorded so long as one person agrees, there are 11 states, including Maryland, that require two-party consent.

Under Maryland's Wiretap Act, recording a private conversation without consent from both parties is punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

Newsweek contacted the Fulton County District Attorney's office for comment outside of normal working hours.

Christopher Kachouroff, one of Floyd's attorneys, made the same accusation against Willis on Tuesday during an interview with Phil Holloway.

Referring to Willis he said: "She did reach out to us, one of my colleagues in Maryland, and was rude, abrupt with him on the phone, and he was dealing with the Maryland case and I was dealing with the Georgia case, and she ended up recording him."

Holloway asked Kachouroff whether he was suggesting Willis had illegally recorded the call, and he replied: "Oh yeah, it's a felony in Maryland."

In a separate X post on Wednesday, Floyd posted: "Fani Willis ILLEGALLY recorded a [phone emoji] call with my lawyer.

"Its a felony! She is a DEI [diversity, equality and inclusion] thug with a law license. Will anyone in GA stand up to her?"

Floyd, the former leader of Black Voices for Trump, is the only one of Trump's co-defendants to have been jailed in the Georgia case, between August 24 and 30, when a $100,000 bond was covered.

In November 2023, Judge Scott McAfee rejected prosecutors' bid to get his bail revoked following what they claimed was a "pattern of intimidation."

In March, McAfee accused Willis of having a "tremendous lapse in judgment" over her relationship with Nathan Wade, then a special prosecutor on Trump's case. However Willis was allowed to remain on the case as long as Wade stepped back, which he did shortly afterwards.