In a court filing on Monday, lawyers for former President Trump said that a Georgia appeals court should overturn a lower court’s ruling and say that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) should not be able to prosecute Trump because she was dishonest.
When it came out that Willis was dating one of Trump’s top prosecutors, his Georgia election interference case was put off for several months. This included a series of meetings that ended with the district attorney being allowed to stay.
In April, the lower court said that Willis could stay on the case as long as Nathan Wade, the prosecutor, quit. Trump’s lawyers say that Wade and Willis should be taken off the case because they are related and have been accused of other wrongdoing.
“Once the trial court found that there was a significant appearance of impropriety infect[ing] the current structure of the prosecution team,’ the only way to fix it was to remove each of the affected prosecutors and the entire DA’s office,” the lawyers wrote.
Steven Sadow, a lawyer for Trump, said in a statement that he is “optimistic” that the Georgia Court of Appeals will rule that Willis is not qualified.
Sadow wrote, “The brief convincingly argues that the trial court should have thrown out the case and disqualified DA Willis for her forensic misconduct and the appearance of impropriety between her and former Special Assistant DA Wade, who was her lover and gave her money with taxpayer money,” “We are hopeful that the Court will rule in our favor on the appeal.”
The document also says that Willis said hurtful things about politics in interviews, on social media, and when she spoke in public, and that she first lied to hide her connection with Wade.
In the Superior Court of Fulton County, Trump’s election interference case is being handled by Judge Scott McAfee. A trial date has not yet been set, and the move by the higher court to hear the appeal is likely to add to the wait time. In the meantime, McAfee has said he will keep working on several pending motions. However, the defendants could try to stop the hearing.
Most likely, the case won’t go to trial until after the 11th of November. Before the delays caused by suspension, Willis said last year that the case might last until 2025.
Michael Roman, a worker for the 2020 Trump campaign and a suspect in the case, was the first to try to get him disqualified. Others, including Trump, quickly joined him, which threw the case off track for weeks.
Willis accused Trump and more than a dozen of his friends of trying to change the results of the state’s 2020 presidential election. He said they were part of an illegal plot to overturn President Biden’s win in the state.
Source: The Hill
