Georgia to appeal HALTS trial of Trump and co-defendants so it can review ‘conflict’ challenge to Fani Willis based on her affair
- The appeals panel put the Trump case on hold pending Willis’s challenge
- The Georgia judge allowed her to stay in the case after testifying about a bombing
A Georgia appeals court has suspended one of Donald Trump’s four criminal trials and suspended his election interference case there to allow a trial based on Fulton County DA Fani Willis’ affair with a prosecutor.
The move comes after Georgia Judge Scott McAfee issued a ruling allowing Willis to remain in her role as prosecutor after holding hearings into her affair with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
The hearing featured dramatic testimony about lavish vacations and angry disputes over when the affair began and whether it had the potential to jeopardize the appearance or fact of a fair trial.
Trump was convicted in the Stormy Daniels case in Manhattan on Thursday, May 30, and the former president faces a sentencing hearing in July that could theoretically send him to prison. But Judge Aileen Cannon of Florida, a Trump nominee, continues to issue rulings that will likely delay the case after the election. His federal election interference case in Washington DC has been put on hold while the US Supreme Court reviews Trump’s claims of presidential immunity from criminal prosecution.
Oral arguments in the Georgia case were expected to take place in October, likely pushing it back beyond November.
Fulton County DA Fani Willis’ affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade has torpedoed the Trump trial schedule
The move comes just days after the Court of Appeal set an October date for hearing the sensational appeal.
The dual verdicts were another procedural victory for Trump, even though it came just days after a Manhattan jury convicted him on 34 counts in his Stormy Daniels trial.
Even if they decide to reaffirm Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to allow Willis to continue prosecuting the case and then allow the case to resume, this could not happen until several months after the election.
Under constitutional term limits, they would have to rule before mid-March 2025, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, or about four months after the election.
The hearing comes after Trump and co-defendants filed a lawsuit following McAfee’s decision, which allowed Willis to remain on the case she oversaw despite having an admitted affair with former special counsel Nathan Wade.
Wade defended his office romance as ‘American as apple pie’
The calendar gives Trump a reprieve in Georgia as he prepares to fight the guilty verdict against him in the Stormy Daniels case
Wade, who gave dramatic testimony alongside Willis in a Georgia courtroom as McAfee was weighing conflicts of interest filed by lawyers for Trump and some of his co-defendants, left the prosecutors team after McAfee’s decision that either Willis or he should go .
He later defended his office romance as “as American as apple pie.”
Trump’s stunningly successful run of delaying three of his criminal trials comes as his allies accuse opponents of pursuing “lawsuits” against him, and as he and his allies plot retaliation against their opponents — with Trump suggesting a plan to Taking aim at Hillary Clinton and the Manhattan Party. DA in jail.