Georgia judge allows Trump and co-defendants to appeal prosecutor’s ruling
In a setback for Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis, a judge on Wednesday allowed lawyers in the Georgia criminal case against former President Donald J. Trump and his allies to appeal his ruling, leaving Ms. Willis could continue the case.
Defense attorneys needed permission from the judge, Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court, to appeal, and he granted that permission in a two-paragraph order. Whether this will delay the election interference case against Mr. Trump and his fourteen co-defendants remains unclear.
The Georgia Court of Appeals has yet to decide whether it will weigh in on whether Ms. Willis has an untenable conflict of interest arising from a romantic relationship she had with a lawyer she hired to handle the Trump case, and other related Affairs.
Judge McAfee wrote in his brief order that he “intends to continue addressing the many other unrelated pending pretrial motions” while the superior court decides what to do.
If the appeals court refuses to hear the question, the case will be resolved quickly. If the commission decides an appeal is warranted, it could take months before the case is resolved.
In a statement, Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for Ms. Willis’ office, said prosecutors would continue to work on the case.
“Since the case will not be stayed during the appeal, this office will work to bring the case to trial as quickly as possible,” Mr. DiSantis said. “We will limit our comment on the case on appeal to what we submit to the Court of Appeal during the briefing process.”
Steven H. Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, called the order “very important” in a statement Wednesday, adding that the defense was “optimistic that the appellate review will result in the case being dismissed and that the prosecutor is disqualified.”
No trial date has been set in the broader case; The district attorney’s office had tried to begin a trial in early August, about a year after Ms. Willis filed charges, but few expect that to happen now.
The case accuses Mr. Trump and several of his allies of conspiring to circumvent the will of Georgia voters in 2020. But the details of the case are being overshadowed this year by hearings delving into a romantic relationship Ms. Willis had with Nathan J. Wade, the lawyer she hired to handle the Trump case.
Last week, Judge McAfee ruled that Ms. Willis and her office could continue to lead the prosecution as long as Mr. Wade recused himself from it. Defense lawyers, who exposed the relationship in court filings, had sought to disqualify Ms. Willis, saying she had an untenable conflict of interest.
Judge McAfee disagreed, but reprimanded Ms Willis in his ruling for a “massive error of judgement.” He also found an “appearance of impropriety”, which he said required Mr Wade to withdraw so Ms Willis could retain the case.
Mr. Wade resigned from his position as special prosecutor just hours after Friday’s ruling.
Under Georgian law, lawyers now have ten days to file a request with the appeals court, arguing why an appeal is necessary. The Public Prosecution Service has ten days from the submission of the request to respond.
The court of appeal has 45 days from the filing of the defense to decide whether to hear the case or not.