Only one of Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis and fellow prosecutor and ex-lover Nathan Wade can stay on former President Donald Trump’s election case in Georgia, Judge Scott McAfee ruled on Friday.

The ruling came on the heels of accusations by Trump co-defendant Mike Roman that Willis hired Wade for the Trump case when she was romantically involved with Wade. The claim was backed up by a witness who testified in February that the romantic relationship between the two began before the case started. However, Willis continues to maintain her initial claim that the relationship began later after the case started.

While the case held a possible implication of Willis getting disqualified from the case, McAfee found she and Wade only engaged in an “appearance of impropriety.” According to him, the defendants “failed to meet their burden” of proving that Willis and Wade’s relationship constituted a conflict of interest.

At the center of the case is the over $650,000 Wade reportedly received from Willis’ office since January 2022. Wade also reportedly paid for multiple trips he and Willis went on in 2022 and 2023, trips Willis claimed to have paid him back for in cash.

In order to remove “unnecessary perception” around “whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed” as the case goes forward, McAfee ruled that Willis can stay as long as Wade is removed from the case or voluntarily resigns.

“Without sufficient evidence that the District Attorney acquired a personal stake in the prosecution, or that her financial arrangements had any impact on the case, the Defendants’ claims of an actual conflict must be denied,” he wrote.

“This finding is by no means an indication that the Court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorney’s testimony during the evidentiary hearing. Rather, it is the undersigned’s opinion that Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices — even repeatedly — and it is the trial court’s duty to confine itself to the relevant issues and applicable law properly brought before it,” he added.

The ruling might be appealed by Trump and his co-defendants, as Trump lawyer Steve Sadow has criticized McAfee’s decision.

Arguing that McAfee “did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade” in his ruling, Sadow said, “We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place.”