Kaitlin Lewis
Former President Donald Trump on Monday filed an appeal of the ruling in Georgia last week that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on his election subversion case in the state.
Willis, the lead prosecutor on the racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 co-defendants, was given the green light to continue prosecuting the case after defendants sought to disqualify her over her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to manage the case.
Judge Scott McAfee ruled on Friday that Willis could remain on the case as long as Wade resigned. The special prosecutor submitted a letter of resignation later in the day.
The appeal of McAfee's decision, filed by Trump and seven of his codefendants, said that arguments over Willis' disqualification are "of the utmost importance to the case."
Former President Donald Trump in Rome, Georgia, on March 9, 2024. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. Trump on Monday appealed the recent ruling that allowed Willis to remain on his election subversion case.
Willis' role in the election subversion case was threatened after the district attorney faced accusations of creating a conflict of interest in the prosecution by having an affair with Wade, who she hired to manage Trump's case in November 2021. An effort to disqualify Willis was filed by one of the former president's codefendants, Mike Roman, whose attorneys said that the district attorney had been "profiting personally from this prosecution." Both Willis and Wade testified that their relationship did not pose an issue to the case.
McAfee ultimately allowed Willis to remain on the case after hearing weeks of testimony on the matter, but wrote in his filing last week that the prosecutors' relationship was a "tremendous lapse in judgment."
What We Know
Monday's appeal request was sent to McAfee, who will have to grant the defendant's permission to immediately appeal the ruling. If approved, the request will move to the Georgia Court of Appeal, who will have 45 days to make a decision on whether to take on the case.
Among the codefendants listed on the request alongside the former president include former New York City Major Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, and Roman, who worked on Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.
The request includes several quotes from McAfee's ruling that point to the judge being scornful of Willis and Wade's relationship, including stating that an "odor of mendacity" remains over the two's affair.
"Defendants believe that the relevant case law requires dismissal of the case, or at the very least, the disqualification of the District Attorney and her entire office under the facts that exist here, and the resignation of Mr. Wade is insufficient to cure the appearance of impropriety the Court has determined exists," the appeals request read.
Views
Legal experts have said that it is unlikely Trump and his defendants will be successful in trying to appeal McAfee's ruling regarding Willis' status on the case.
Georgia State University College of Law professor Anthony Michael Kreis told Newsweek earlier this week that it would be "very hard for the defendants to demonstrate that the factors that favor review are present here because Judge McAfee's ruling exhaustively explained why the defendants were not prejudiced by Wade and Willis' relationship." Atlanta defense attorney Noah Pines also said he didn't expect McAfee or Georgia's Court of Appeals to grant the appeal request.
If McAfee does allow Trump's request to move to the appeals court, it will likely cause the case to face significant delays. The former president has sought in all his legal challenges to postpone trial until after the 2024 election, where he is anticipated to once again face President Joe Biden.
Trump's lead defense counsel for the case, Steve Sadow, said in a statement last week that the team intends to "use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place."
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