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A judge in Georgia ruled to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from conducting a criminal probe into state Sen. Burt Jones, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor.
According to court documents released Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney sided with Jones’ request to bar the district attorney’s criminal investigation, writing, “This scenario creates a plain — and actual and untenable – conflict.”
After Willis attempted to target multiple alternate electors for President Donald Trump, Jones argued that the probe presented a conflict of interest after Willis expressed support for Jones’ Democrat opponent during the runoff, the Washington Examiner reported.
McBurney ultimately sided with Jones, stating:
“Any decision the District Attorney makes about Senator Jones in connection with the grand jury investigation is necessarily infected by it. To label Jones a target or merely a subject, to subpoena him or instead allow him to proffer, to question him aggressively or mildly, to challenge or accept invocations of legislative privilege or assertions of Fifth Amendment privilege, to immunize or not — each of these critical investigative decisions is different for him because of the District Attorney’s actions taken on behalf of the Senator’s electoral challenger.”
Just the News reported that Jones is one of the 11 members of Trump’s alternate slate of electors targeted by Willis in the criminal probe into Trump’s efforts to challenge the Peach State’s presidential results.
Georgia Rep. Jody Hice, who publicly expressed that President Trump won the Peach State in 2020, was subpoenaed by a grand jury earlier this month, the outlet further reported.
Nonetheless, Jones praised the decision in a press release, writing, “Today’s ruling is a huge win for our campaign—but more importantly, for due process and the rule of law in Georgia.”
