Former President Donald Trump and eight co-defendants charged with conspiracy to conduct election fraud in Georgia are attempting to have Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis removed from the case. The nine defendants asked a state appeals court Friday to hear their appeal of a judge’s decision to let Willis stay on the case despite her affair with a private lawyer she hired to oversee the probe.
Earlier this month, lawyers for Trump and the co-defendants requested permission to appeal Judge Scott McAfee’s ruling, and the Republican-appointed judge accepted their request for an emergency review.
Trump and the others, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, must now convince a panel of Georgia Court of Appeals judges to hear the case. If they decline, the case proceeds to trial.
Willis has stated that she hopes to start the trial proceedings well before the Nov. 5 election, which will pit Trump against President Joe Biden, who defeated him in the state in 2020.
Trump and 14 others are accused of attempting to overturn the results in Georgia in a variety of ways, including the creation of a phony slate of electors to replace those who represented Biden’s electoral victory in the Peach State. Willis is charging them under Georgia’s RICO Act, which argues that several conspiracies were carried out by different people with the common purpose of reversing the election.
In Friday’s appeal, the lawyers contend that McAfee did not go far enough in forcing Willis to essentially fire special prosecutor Nathan Wade or stand aside due to a sexual relationship they had. Wade resigned later in the day.
Led by Trump defense attorney Steven Sadow, the defense counsel is now requesting that the appellate court dismiss Willis and the entire Fulton County DA’s office from the case entirely.
Sadow stated in a statement that the appeal follows earlier defense lawyer claims, including that “the indictment should have been dismissed and, at a minimum, DA Willis and her office should have been disqualified from prosecuting the case.”
“The Georgia Court of Appeals should grant the application and accept the interlocutory appeal for consideration on the merits,” he said.
Case’s ‘importance’ requires emergency review
According to Georgia law, defense lawyers had to request McAfee to provide a certificate of immediate review, which would enable them to file an emergency appeal to the appellate court prior to the start of the trial.
They argued in their request that McAfee’s decision to let Willis continue with the case is so crucial that it calls for immediate review. They also pointed out that although McAfee spared Willis, he strongly criticized her relationship with Wade and the vacations they shared.
“McAfee further expressed his doubts about the credibility of Willis and Wade, stating that their testimony had severely damaged their trustworthiness. He emphasized that there were still valid concerns regarding their truthfulness about the timeline of their relationship, which they claimed started after Wade’s involvement in the case.”
An ‘erroneous’ failure to disqualify
The defense lawyers presented a variety of arguments in their appeal on Friday, urging the appellate panel of judges to overturn McAfee’s ruling or dismiss the case entirely.
According to the defense attorneys, McAfee made a mistake by not disqualifying Willis, which they consider to be an error and a violation of their clients’ right to due process. They also accused Willis of engaging in forensic misconduct by making racially charged comments about the case, which could potentially bias a jury against the defendants.
The critics contended that McAfee made a mistake in concluding that DA Willis did not have a personal interest in the case due to her actual conflicts of interest. They also argued that the judge’s refusal to disqualify DA Willis based on the appearance of a conflict or impropriety was an error.
Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Trump 2020 campaign staffer Michael Roman, who first revealed Willis’ romantic relationship with Wade in a stunning Jan. 8 motion to disqualify her, are among those who are seeking the appeal.
Election fraud case to go forward while emergency appeal is considered
McAfee has expressed his intention to give both the prosecution and defense ample time to prepare for the trial while the appeal is in progress, even though a trial date has not yet been scheduled.
According to Clark Cunningham, a professor of law and ethics at Georgia State University College of Law, there is a possibility that the Court of Appeals may choose not to take the case. He believes this is due to the court’s tendency to defer to the judgment of the initial judge.
According to him, regardless of the outcome, it is highly likely that the losing party will file an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. This further diminishes the chances of Trump and others appearing before a jury prior to the upcoming Election Day on November 5th.
According to Ashleigh Merchant, Roman’s lawyer, she and the defense attorneys are prepared to take their appeal to the state’s highest court if the appellate judges decline to hear their case or rule against them.
According to Merchant, the judges of the appeals court might choose to send the disqualification matter back to McAfee, highlighting the errors made and requesting him to rectify them. Alternatively, they could decide not to make a ruling on this issue, resulting in the case being escalated to the Supreme Court.
According to Merchant, it is highly unlikely that this could occur before the election. He explains that the appellate process typically takes around six months to complete, and it hasn’t even been initiated yet. We are still in the early stages of the process.
