Trump Challenges Court Decision to Keep DA Willis on Georgia Case

Former President Donald Trump and eight co-defendants in a case involving alleged 2020 election interference in Georgia have filed a motion with the state court of appeals to review a judge’s decision allowing Democrat Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case.

Trump and 18 co-defendants were charged with trying to interfere with Georgia’s 2020 election results; four co-defendants have since taken plea deals. Trump lost the state to President Joe Biden by 11,779 votes.

Georgia Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled March 15 that Willis could stay on the case only if Nathan Wade, the lead prosecutor she appointed and with whom she had a secret romantic relationship, left the case. Wade resigned shortly after the ruling.

The defense claimed Wade benefitted financially from the position and used money he received to take Willis on lavish vacations. But McAfee wrote in his ruling the allegations and evidence were legally insufficient to support a finding of a conflict of interest, even though he wrote there was an “appearance of impropriety.”

In their motion to the appeals court, the defense claims Willis and her office should be disqualified from the case because of her “inflammatory out-of-court statements regarding defendants and their counsel and other misconduct [‘forensic misconduct’] in response to this motion, and/or her actual or apparent conflict of interest in the case.”

“While the trial court factually found DA Willis’ out-of-court statements were improper and defendants proved an apparent conflict of interest, the trial court erred as a matter of law by not requiring dismissal and DA Willis’ disqualification,” the appeals motion stated. “This legal error requires the Court’s immediate review.”

Willis, whose office reportedly has 10 days to reply to the motion, has made several comments the defense considers inflammatory, including saying that the motion to disqualify her and Wade as being racially motivated. More recently, she told CNN on March 23 “the train is coming” for Trump and his co-defendants.

“The Georgia courts are not only empowered to disqualify DA Willis to ensure that this criminal trial will be conducted ‘within the ethical standards of the profession,’ they are obligated to do so here to protect the integrity of the remaining proceedings and the constitutional rights of defendants,” the motion stated.

Willis has proposed Aug. 5 as the start date for the trial, shortly after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and two weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. But that date is not set in the stone and could be hampered by a decision against her by the state court of appeals or appeals to the Georgia Supreme Court.