Georgia appeals court to weigh disqualifying Fani Willis from Trump case
A Georgia appeals court agreed Wednesday to review a lower court’s decision not to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) from prosecuting former President Trump in his election interference case in the state.
Revelations that Willis was in a romantic relationship with one of Trump’s top prosecutors caused a multimonth detour in the case, including a series of whirlwind hearings that culminated in the district attorney being allowed to remain.
On Wednesday, the Georgia Court of Appeals granted the request from Trump and several allies charged alongside him to take up their appeal now, before the case heads to trial. The district attorney’s office had opposed the move.
“Upon consideration of the Application for Interlocutory Appeal, it is ordered that it be hereby GRANTED,” read the one-page ruling from the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Willis was allowed to continue prosecuting the case after Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the case in the Superior Court of Fulton County, ruled she could stay if her lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade — with whom she had the romantic relationship — resigned.
McAfee has not yet set a trial date, and the higher court’s decision to hear the appeal is likely to cause further delays. McAfee has signaled he plans to continue addressing various pending motions in the meantime, though the defendants could attempt to pause the trial.
After days of dramatic hearings, where both Willis and Wade testified, McAfee only found evidence of an apparent conflict of interest, not an actual conflict of interest.
Willis and Wade said they met in 2019 at a judicial conference but began dating in early 2022 – after Wade had been designated a special prosecutor in the historic case. However, during the blockbuster hearings, two witnesses testified that their romance started in 2019. The prosecutors contended that a mentor-like relationship was established after the conference, not a romantic one.
Trump and his co-defendants contended that McAfee’s factual findings made clear the romance amounted to more than just an apparent conflict of interest.
“If this law means anything, the trial court’s actual findings here establish an actual conflict,” their application for an appeal read.
Steve Sadow, who represents Trump in the case, welcomed the development.
“President Trump looks forward to presenting interlocutory arguments to the Georgia Court of Appeals as to why the case should be dismissed and Fulton County DA Willis should be disqualified for her misconduct in this unjustified, unwarranted political persecution," Trump attorney Steve Sadow said in a statement.
The disqualification effort was first mounted by 2020 Trump campaign operative Michael Roman, a defendant in the case. Others, including Trump, rapidly joined his efforts, causing the case to take a weeks-long detour.
Willis charged Trump and more than a dozen of his allies last summer with attempting to subvert the state’s 2020 presidential election results, accusing them of entering an unlawful conspiracy to overturn President Biden’s victory in the state.
Trump pleaded not guilty.
Updated at 10:15 a.m. EDT