Should Ms. Willis and her office be removed from the case, a state board would need to appoint a new prosecutor.
The Georgia Court of Appeals has agreed to review the decision a trial court judge issued that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to stay on the high-profile case against former President Donald Trump so long as she took a special prosecutor off the case to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
“Upon consideration of the Application for Interlocutory Appeal, it is ordered that it be hereby GRANTED,” reads the May 8 order.
President Trump and eight codefendants that sought review will have 10 days to file their appeal.
He and 14 others were indicted last August under the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, with prosecutors alleging their actions to challenge the 2020 election results amounted to a criminal conspiracy.
After revelations that Nathan Wade, the outside attorney Ms. Willis hired to lead the case, had been engaged in an affair with Ms. Willis during the investigation for the case, the trial court judge held a days-long evidentiary hearing.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ultimately found that the appearance of impropriety caused by the relationship, which they testified ended just before the indictment was handed up, could be remedied by the removal of Mr. Wade alone.
Defendants sought review of the decision, and Judge McAfee on March 29 allowed them to take the matter to the appeals court. In the meantime, the judge continued to rule on pretrial motions.
Timing
Should Ms. Willis and her office be removed from the case, a state board would need to appoint a new prosecutor to take it on.
If the case is handed to another team, charges could be dropped or added, requiring additional litigation, or prosecutors may even choose to drop the case entirely.
While the district attorney has requested an August trial, counsel for President Trump argued that a trial that overlaps with the general election would be clear “election interference.” Meanwhile, President Trump faces three other criminal cases and is currently on trial in New York. Prosecutors in his two other cases are also pushing to bring cases to trial before the November election.
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