Donald Trump has dramatically appealed a court ruling that allowed embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain in charge of prosecuting his election interference case in Georgia.
The former president and eight of his co-defendants in the election case asked an appeals court on Friday to take up their challenge.
They claim that a romantic relationship between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade was inappropriate and that she should have been kicked out of the trial.
Lawyers for Trump and the defendants now want the higher court to consider their arguments that Willis should be disqualified or the case should be dismissed.
The filing is the latest twist in the legal drama surrounding Willis and the Georgia case in which Trump and 18 co-defendants are accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Her relationship with Wade prompted a recent hearing that lasted several days and revealed salacious details of her love life.
Donald Trump has appealed the ruling that allowed embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain in Georgia’s election case.
The former president and eight of his co-defendants asked an appeals court on Friday to hear their challenge
As a result, Judge Scott McAfee ruled on March 15 that Willis could remain on the case if Wade resigned. Wade resigned hours later.
The defendants claim Willis should go too.
“The court was bound by existing case law to require not only the disqualification of Wade (which occurred), but also to require the disqualification of District Attorney Willis and her entire office,” the lawyers said in a 51 filing pages.
“The court’s failure to do so is a clear legal error that requires reversal.”
In his ruling, Judge McAfee said Willis was guilty of a “massive error of judgement” when she dated Wade.
Defendants claim her romantic relationship with Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade was inappropriate and she should have been kicked out of the trial
The judge also said there was an ‘odor of mendacity’ hanging over the trial.
But he did not decide that the relationship constituted an actual conflict of interest.
Willis has insisted there was nothing inappropriate about the relationship, claiming Trump lawyers tried to delay the trial.
The appeals court now has 45 days to consider whether to grant or deny Trump and his co-defendants’ request.
In his ruling earlier this month, Judge McAfee found that the prosecution was “hindered by an appearance of impropriety.”
Allegations that Willis had wrongly profited from her romance with Wade rocked the case for weeks.
Intimate details about Willis and Wade’s personal lives were aired in court in mid-February.
The drama overshadowed the allegations in the election interference case, one of four criminal cases against Trump.
Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee presides over a hearing on a motion to dismiss election interference charges against former U.S. President Donald Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 28, 2024
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis attends a hearing on the Georgia election interference case, March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia
He and his co-defendants are accused of participating in a vast scheme to illegally attempt to overturn his narrow loss in the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia.
The appeal states that Judge McAfee was wrong in not disqualifying both Willis and Wade.
It says that “allowing DA Willis to simply remove Wade confuses logic and violates Georgia law.”
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, said the case should have been dismissed and that Willis should have been “at the very least” disqualified from pursuing the case. He said the Court of Appeal should grant the request and assess the merits of the appeal.
A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment.
Willis used Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law, a sweeping anti-racketeering statute, to indict Trump and the eighteen others.
Four people charged in the case have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors.
Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
The judge ruled that District Attorney Fani Willis could continue to prosecute the 2020 election interference case if special prosecutor Nathan Wade was removed
Attorney Steve Sadow, former President Donald Trump’s lead attorney in the case, speaks in court at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia
McAfee clearly felt that Willis’ relationship with Wade and his job as lead prosecutor in the case created an appearance of impropriety.
His decision not to disqualify Willis and her entire firm from the case “is a clear legal error requiring reversal,” the lawyers wrote in their filing.
Given the complexity of the case and the number of defendants, multiple trials will likely be required, according to the filing.
If Willis is not disqualified now, any verdicts could be overturned, and it would be “neither wise nor efficient” to risk having to go through “this painful, divisive and expensive process” multiple times, according to the defense’s request .
Defense attorneys argued that it is critical that prosecutors “remain and appear disinterested and impartial” to maintain public confidence in the integrity of the justice system.