ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday agreed to review a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.
A day earlier, the judge in his Florida classified documents case indefinitely postponed that trial date.
Trump and some other defendants in Georgia had tried to get Willis and her office removed the case, saying her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest.
Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in March found that no conflict of interest existed that should force Willis off the case, but he granted a request from Trump and the other defendants to seek an appeal of his ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals.
That intermediate appeals court agreed on Wednesday to take up the case.
Once it rules, the losing side could ask the Georgia Supreme Court to consider an appeal.
The motion alleged that Willis and Wade were involved in an inappropriate romantic relationship and that Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then benefitted when he paid for lavish vacations.
They also testified that they split travel costs roughly evenly, with Willis often paying expenses or reimbursing Wade in cash.
Atlanta (AP) — On Wednesday, a Georgia appeals court decided to consider a decision made by a lower court that permitted Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to carry out her legal defense of former President Donald Trump against allegations of election meddling.
This appears to be a move to postpone the case; it is the second time in a short period of time that the former president has received a favorable ruling, which may cause any further trials to be postponed until after November, when he is anticipated to be the Republican nominee for president. The trial date in his Florida case involving classified documents was postponed indefinitely by the judge a day prior.
Trump and a few other Georgian defendants had attempted to have Willis and her office drop the case on the grounds that there was a conflict of interest due to her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Judge Scott McAfee of the Superior Court decided in March that there was no conflict of interest that should have prevented Willis from taking the case, but he did grant Trump and the other defendants’ request to appeal the decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
On Wednesday, that lower appeals court decided to take up the matter. Following its decision, the losing party may request that the Georgia Supreme Court take an appeal under consideration.
Steve Sadow, the lead attorney for Trump in Georgia, stated in an email that the former president is eager to argue before the appeals court for the case’s dismissal and for Willis’s “disqualification for her misconduct in this unjustified, unwarranted political persecution.”. “.
Regarding the Court of Appeals’ decision to review the case, a Willis representative chose not to respond.
McAfee stated in his order that he would consider further pretrial motions “regardless of whether the petition is granted dot.”. and even in the event that the appellate court expedites any further appeal. However, Trump and the others may ask the Court of Appeals to put the case on hold while they file an appeal.
“Encumbered by an appearance of impropriety,” McAfee wrote in his March order to the prosecution. He stated that Willis could only stay on the case in the event that Wade resigned, and hours later, the special prosecutor handed in his resignation.
Intimate details of Willis and Wade’s private lives were revealed in court in mid-February, sparking a turbulent few months in the case due to the accusations that Willis had unfairly profited from her relationship with Wade. The prosecutors’ romantic lives cast a shadow over the serious charges in one of the four criminal cases against the former president of the United States, who is a Republican.
In August, Trump and eighteen other individuals were indicted on charges of engaging in an extensive plot to unlawfully attempt to reverse his narrow defeat to Democratic candidate Joe Biden in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
The defendants were accused of breaking Georgia’s anti-racketeering law known as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law, which is a broad statute. After striking agreements with the prosecution, four of the accused have entered guilty pleas. It has been pleaded not guilty by Trump and the others.
In their appeal application, Trump and the other defendants contended that McAfee erred in failing to remove Wade as well as Willis, stating that “giving DA Willis the option to simply remove Wade confounds logic and is contrary to Georgia law.”. “.
Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign staffer and White House aide, initially brought up the accusations against Willis in a motion in early January. The motion claimed that Willis and Wade had an improper romantic relationship and that Willis compensated Wade well for his labor before taking advantage of Wade by paying for opulent vacations.
Though they acknowledged their relationship, Willis and Wade claimed that their romance ended last summer and that they didn’t start dating until the spring of 2022—that is, after Wade was hired in November of 2021. They further declared in court that they divided the cost of their travels about equally, with Willis frequently covering costs or giving Wade cash reimbursement.
