NEW: Legal Expert Reveals Why Fani Willis Is Still In Grave Danger

Last Friday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis emerged from her disqualification hearing with a path forward, but she has continued to be marred by controversy. Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee decided not to disqualify Willis from leading the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump, on the condition that her romantic partner Nathan Wade is removed.

Legal experts now say that Willis could benefit her case against Trump – and her own career – by stepping aside, following McAfee’s criticism of her conduct. Without finding Willis guilty of perjury or financial misconduct related to Wade, the Judge pointed out that her actions were concerning.

McAfee’s ruling last week alluded to an “odor of mendacity” regarding Willis’s testimony about her relationship with Wade, who resigned after the judge’s comments. The case against Trump involves allegations of a conspiracy to influence the 2020 presidential election, with 18 co-defendants.

Despite the ruling allowing Willis to continue prosecuting the case against, she may face challenges to her law license from the State Bar of Georgia. Although experts do not anticipate the challenges to be successful based on current evidence, Willis could also face opposition from other state regulators.

Andrew George, a trial lawyer and adjunct professor at the Georgetown Law Center, commented to USA TODAY shortly after the ruling, saying, “She survived today, she survived this opinion, but this is not going away.”

“The scrutiny is going to only build and build because her presentation and Mr. Wade’s presentation during this process were not convincing.” George continued, “If it were proven that she lied under oath, I think that would be grounds for disbarment. However, that would probably require more proof than currently exists.”

Ryan Goodman, a law professor at New York University, said on CNN that the judge’s “odor of mendacity” remark, served as “an invitation” for the filing of an ethics charge related to dishonesty. “I can’t imagine that somebody won’t take up that invitation – it just takes a group of lawyers to file an ethics complaint.”

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Chandelle Summer, a Georgia attorney with experience as both a prosecutor and public defender, also told USA TODAY that she anticipates complaints to the bar against Willis due to the high-profile nature of the case.

“It’s such a politically charged case, I don’t think they’re going to leave any stone unturned,” Summer remarked.

Although the decision is not total vindication for Trump and his 14 co-defendants, Willis emerged badly damaged as a result of self-inflicted wounds that will also cost her reviews by the U.S. House and a new Georgia panel with the power to remove prosecutors who abuse the powers of office. She has also garnered a Republican opponent for her election later this year.

Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, is doubtful Willis will face disciplinary action from the State Bar.

“Whether that’s a relationship or dating or just flirting, that’s really something that’s so subjective and so beholden in the eye of the beholder, that you can’t really prove that with a kind of degree of accuracy,” he explained to USA Today.

“Unless there’s just incredibly inculpatory evidence to suggest that she received some kind of kickback, I just don’t see anything really coming out from that.”

He continued, “Judge McAfee’s opinion is written in such a way that is thorough enough and detailed enough, and the findings of fact are sufficiently in the DA’s favor here, that there is a really minuscule likelihood that this will be taken up on appeal.”

Prosecutors previously charged Trump over a statement made to Republican Secretary of State Ben Raffensperger allegedly demanding he “find” over 11,000 votes to change the outcome of the state’s 2020 election.

Should Willis proceed in the case, she now finds herself mired in a backlog of delays across Trump’s four criminal cases which legal observers believe may be enough to push most or all trials well past Election Day. Should he win another term in the White House, it is expected that Trump would use executive authority to dismiss, at the very least, the two federal cases he is facing.