(The Center Square) – A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday agreed to review a judge’s ruling that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to stay on former President Donald Trump’s election case.
In a two-sentence order, the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to take the case on Wednesday.
In March, Trump appealed a judge’s decision to allow Willis to remain on the case after she had a romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor in the case. That appeal came after Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing Trump’s election interference racketeering case, said Willis could remain on the case if she removed lead prosecutor Nathan Wade. Wade resigned after that ruling.
In August 2023, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others on charges they tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Trump’s defense team has argued that Willis must be taken off the case.
“While the trial court factually found DA Willis’s 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,” attorneys for Trump and eight other defendants wrote in the appeal. “This legal error requires the Court’s immediate review.”
Willis previously argued she should be allowed to stay on the case.
“Days of evidence and testimony failed to disclose anything like a calculated pre-trial plan designed to prejudice the defendants or secure their convictions,” prosecutors wrote in the brief.
The Georgia case took a turn after Trump co-defendant Michael Roman discovered evidence of a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade. Trump’s appeal stemmed from that conduct along with a speech Willis delivered at a local church.
