Fani Willis suffers new blow as Georgia court allows Donald Trump’s appeal to remove the Fulton County DA from his election fraud case
The Georgia Court of Appeals has given the green light to Donald Trump’s case to remove Fani Willis from his election fraud trial, the latest blow to the Fulton County district attorney.
Willis has courted controversy during the prosecution of the county’s election interference case against Trump after it was revealed she had a past relationship with special counsel Nathan Wade.
She escaped with just a slap on the wrist after Supreme Court Justice Scott McAfee dramatically ruled that she could remain in the Trump election interference case if Wade removed himself.
Trump and eight of his co-defendants charged in Georgia state court have since urged the appeals court to overturn McAfee’s ruling in March.
Now the court has given Trump’s appeal the green light to proceed, but there is no set timeline yet for when the case will be heard.
Georgia’s appeals court has agreed to former President Donald Trump’s request to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the election fraud case
The court’s decision to hear the appeal before trial could lead to further delays in the case. It is one of four criminal charges Trump faces in his bid to unseat Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of a politically motivated attempt to damage his campaign.
The court’s decision to hear the case follows courtroom testimony from McAfee in which Willis and former special prosecutor Nathan Wade acknowledged they had a sexual affair.
Lawyers for Donald Trump and several co-defendants tried to establish that the affair began before Willis brought Wade into the case and said there was a conflict of interest. But Willis said the relationship later turned romantic.
After a dramatic hearing involving claims and counterclaims about lavish travel and cash refunds, McAfee gave the state two options: either Willis and her entire team withdraw from the case, or Wade withdraws from it.
He excoriated Willis for a “massive error of judgment” and for “unprofessional conduct,” finding that while there was no actual conflict of interest, there was at least the appearance of one.
Wade stepped down hours after the judge’s ruling in March.
Scandal-hit Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade has dropped his ex-lover and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ case against Donald Trump
Trump has pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of a politically motivated attempt to damage his campaign
Trump has successfully postponed each of his four criminal trials, although he faces trial this week in the Stormy Daniels case, where he is charged with 34 counts of falsifying company records
As humiliating as it was for prosecutors, McAfee’s decision allowed the case to proceed. If it had been assigned to prosecutors in another county, it could have delayed the case even more or even led to another charge.
Wade said ABC news: ‘Workplace novels are as American as apple pie. It happens to everyone. But it happened to both of us.” It was his first interview since leaving office.
The state Supreme Court’s decision will almost certainly cause delays in the criminal trials of Trump and his co-defendants, who are charged in a broad racketeering conspiracy over his election failure in the state.
If that happens, it would be just the latest victory on the calendar for Trump, whose lawyers have managed to delay his criminal cases as Election Day approaches.
Trump’s January 6 case in DC remains stalled as he awaits a Supreme Court decision on his claims of presidential immunity. Judge Aileen Cannon ruled Tuesday that his classified documents case in Florida was postponed indefinitely amid a series of clashes over classified documents issues.
Even his Stormy Daniels case, set this week in Manhattan, has been delayed.
Trump attorney in the Georgia case Steven Sadow said in a statement that he will not relent in the effort to ban Willis from the case.
“President Trump looks forward to presenting interlocutory arguments to the Georgia Court of Appeals on why the case should be dismissed and Fulton County DA Willis should be disqualified for her misconduct in this unwarranted, unwarranted political prosecution,” Sadow said. said in a statement.