The Court of Appeal has stopped Georgia Former US President's Election Interference Case Donald Trump and others are reviewing a lower court judge's decision to allow Fulton County D.A. Fanny Willis Continue to investigate this case.
The Georgia Court of Appeals issued an order Wednesday barring Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee from moving forward with pretrial motions as planned during the appeal. While it’s unlikely the case will go to trial before the November election, when Trump is expected to become the Republican presidential nominee, the order makes it more likely.
The appeals court accepted an appeal filed by Trump and eight others on Monday and said the appeal date is tentatively set for October 4 “if oral arguments are requested and granted.” The court must make a ruling by mid-March, and the losing party can appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
A spokesman for Willis declined to comment on the appeals court's ruling.
In August, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others for participating in a massive conspiracy to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Four defendants pleaded guilty after reaching agreements with prosecutors, but Trump and the others pleaded not guilty. This is one of four criminal cases against Trump.
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Trump and eight other defendants had tried to have Willis and her office withdraw from the case, saying her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest. McAfee ruled in March that there was no conflict of interest and Willis should not be forced to withdraw from the case, but he granted a request by Trump and the other defendants to appeal to the state Court of Appeals.
“The whiff of lies remains,” McAfee wrote. He said there were “reasonable doubts” about whether Willis and Wade had testified truthfully about the length of their relationship, “further evidence of misconduct and the corresponding efforts required to correct it.” Willis could only continue to work on the case if Wade left, he said, and the special counsel resigned hours later.
Willis is accused of improperly profiting from her relationship with Wade, a case that has endured several turbulent months as intimate details of Willis and Wade's personal lives became public in court in mid-February.
