A Georgia appeals court has disqualified the top prosecutor overseeing an election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump and his allies, a decision that could upend the case.

Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis was disqualified because she had a romantic relationship with an attorney she hired to help run the investigation.

The decision overturns a lower court

ruling earlier this year that said Willis could continue in the role. Our William Brangham has

been following the legal cases against Mr. Trump and joins us now. So William, what was the appeals

court's argument in removing Fannie Willis from this case? Their argument, and I should say this came as a bit of a surprise because the presiding judge,

as you said, Scott McAfee, who's a conservative appointed by Republican Governor Brian Kemp,

had criticized Willis's relationship and said it created this appearance of impropriety,

but said if you get rid of the man you're having a

relationship with, you can stay on the case. She did that. This appeals court comes in, and while agreeing

that this was really just about an appearance of impropriety, they said that this case was so rare and so unusual

that it, quote, that disqualification was

mandated. Now, they've been criticized a fair amount for this ruling. It was a two to one

decision. But that's the ruling, and she's off the case. The underlying case, though,

hasn't been dismissed. Could it be prosecuted by someone else, potentially?

Potentially. Fannie Willis's office is appealing to the Georgia Supreme Court to overthrow this

so she could get back in the driver's seat, unclear if that's going to happen. If she loses that,

then there's this Republican-led counsel of prosecutors in Georgia, and they will be the ones to decide, drop the case,

continue the case, and then assign a new prosecutor to that, unclear if that's going to happen or not.

Hanging over all of this, though, is also this Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel

Policy, which says that no sitting president can be prosecuted.

Now, Department of Justice that's usually thought of is covering just federal cases,

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