To repair the credibility of the Georgia prosecution against Donald Trump, DA Willis should appoint Bruce Udolf lead prosecutor.

Judge Scott McAfee ruled Friday that the Fulton County District Attorney’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump was “encumbered by an appearance of impropriety.” While finding that the appearance of impropriety was not so great as to require the dismissal of the indictment, Judge McAffee ordered the DA to choose between disqualification of her entire office or removal of Special Attorney Nathan Wade from the prosecution team. Shortly thereafter Wade resigned.

          Before Wade was appointed to be lead prosecutor, the prosecution team was outmatched by the lawyers representing the defendants, in particular counsel for Donald Trump, Steve Sadow. Wade’s appointment added no gravitas to the team because he had no experience trying criminal cases.

          Now Wade is gone and the case has been tainted by the DA’s horrendous lack of judgment.

          But Wade’s departure presents an opportunity to add counsel with an impeccable record of integrity and government service as well as vast experience prosecuting racketeering cases; an attorney who was himself a District Attorney in northeast Georgia.

          That attorney is Bruce Udolf.

          Bruce Udolf is as unknown to the public as was Jack Smith when he was chosen Special Counsel. But he is not unknown to senior lawyers practicing criminal law as either defense attorneys or prosecutors.

          Attorney Udolf began his career as an Assistant District Attorney for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit of Georgia. After five years on the job, Udolf was elected the District Attorney. Udolf subsequently became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida, prosecuting major crimes and narcotics offenses. He became Chief of the office’s Public Integrity/Corruption section in 1992 where he prosecuted or supervised some of the most important public corruption cases in the country.  In 1997, he was selected to be  Associate Independent Counsel in the Whitewater investigation.  

          Udolf left the government to practice criminal defense and has chalked up a slew of victories in criminal cases ever since. He knows how to prosecute cases and he knows how to defend them. No one is in a better position to shepherd the Georgia prosecution to a successful and just conclusion than Bruce Udolf.

          Unfortunately, the best person for the job is usually not the person chosen for the job—particularly where politics is involved. But appointing Bruce Udolf to lead the prosecution team against Trump and his co-defendants would be a monumental exercise of good judgment by DA Willis.