A Fulton County, Georgia, judge will decide within two weeks whether District Attorney Fani Willis’s love affair with her special prosecutor will derail their election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

Judge Scott McAfee told the courtroom following closing arguments from both sides in the case that “there are several legal issues to sort through, several factual determinations that I have to make” before deciding whether to disqualify Ms. Willis or special prosecutor Nathan Wade or Ms. Willis’ entire office.

His decision could upend the case against the former president but not necessarily end it.

If Ms. Willis or her team is disqualified, the prosecution would likely be moved to another district attorney or prosecutor in the state.

Lawyers representing Mr. Trump and other defendants in the case who are seeking to disqualify Ms. Willis centered their closing arguments Friday on her romantic relationship with Mr. Wade.

The affair, they said, began before she recruited the then-married Mr. Wade to lead the prosecution against the former president. His hiring, lawyers argued, provided her with a financial benefit through his six-figure salary, which was used in part to pay for dinners, trips and cruises the couple took together. 

Emails and cell phone records and at least one witness indicated the two were romantically involved before she hired him, lawyers argued. They cited other conflicts, including Ms. Willis’s political ambition and desire to take down the former president, as well as a speech she delivered in January at an Atlanta church in which she blamed racism for the efforts to disqualify her. 

“This is a case study in what happens when you operate under a conflict of interest,” Harold MacDougald, one of the lawyers seeking Ms. Willis’s disqualification, argued. “It’s put an irreparable stain on the case.”

The revelation of Ms. Willis’s affair with Mr. Wade has blown up the case against Mr. Trump and 18 codefendants, whom Ms. Willis charged last year in a sweeping racketeering case related to efforts to stop Georgia from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

Adam Abbate, a lawyer from the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, argued against disqualifying Ms. Willis. He said lawyers for the defendants did not prove the two were romantically involved before his hiring or that Ms. Willis had a conflict of interest in leading the prosecution. 

He questioned the accuracy of newly uncovered cell phone records that placed Ms. Wade and Mr. Willis together for overnight stays before he was hired and he scoffed at the claim she financially benefited from hiring Mr. Wade. 

Ms. Willis cut the number of indictments from 39 individuals recommended by a grand jury to just 18 defendants and demanded a speedy trial, which undermines the argument that she was looking to profit from the case. 

As for the lavish trips, Mr. Abbate said Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade stayed at the DoubleTree Hotel when they visited Napa Valley for a wine-tasting trip, he said and did not check in at a more expensive hotel, such as the Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons. 

“So the allegations and assertions that Miss Willis was living the lifestyle of the rich and the famous is a joke,” Mr. Abbate said. 

The three-and-a-half-hour hearing closed out several days of testimony from witnesses in the case.

On Thursday, Mr. Wade’s former divorce attorney and law partner, Terrence Bradley, said he could not recall details Mr. Wade disclosed to him about his relationship with Ms. Willis. 

His testimony conflicted with text messages affirming their affair that he sent to defense lawyer Ashleigh Merchant, who represents co-defendant Michael Roman. 

Mr. Abbate said Mr. Bradley “had every motive to lie” in the text messages because he was pushed out of Mr. Wade’s law practice.

The case featured testimony from Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade, who were present for closing arguments Friday but sat separately in the courtroom. Ms. Willis at one point approached Mr. Abbate during his closing statement and handed him a note.

During the trial, Ms. Willis insisted she obtained no financial benefit and paid back Mr. Wade the cost of half of their trips and dinners using cash she kept stashed in her home, but she provided no records of the repayment. 

She denied romantic involvement with Mr. Wade before hiring him and said a former friend was lying when she testified they were romantically involved in 2019. 

Lawyers argued she benefited to the tune of $17,000 by hiring Mr. Wade to prosecute Mr. Trump, violating ethics laws prohibiting her from accepting expensive gifts. 

Defense attorney Richard Rice said he did not buy her argument that she paid it all back to Mr. Wade in cash.

“It does not hold up to the light of truth,”  he said. “Anyone that has ever been in a money laundering trial or a forfeiture trial, if that’s the explanation we give the state, they laugh.”

• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.