An effort by Donald Trump to secure a review of a Georgia judge’s order declining to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was scheduled on Monday for an oral argument in October, cementing the likelihood of no trial until after the election.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee declined to remove Willis from the case earlier this year after Trump and several of his co-defendants alleged there was a conflict of interest following revelations of a secret relationship between Willis and her hired special prosecutor, Nathan Wade. Now an appeals court will weigh the same question later this year, just one month before the high-stakes presidential election in November.
McAfee on March 15 declined to remove Willis under the condition that Wade resign as special prosecutor. He wrote that their relationship left an “odor of mendacity” in the case that needed to be handled by Wade’s departure.
The appeals court setting the hearing to weigh whether Willis can remain on the case just one month before the 2024 election marks a victory for the former president, who has challenged the validity of her case. However, McAfee will be allowed to move through pretrial motions and hearings while both parties await the state appellate court’s decision on whether Willis should be entirely removed from the case.
McAfee’s pretrial proceedings will continue so long as the appeals court does not enter a stay in the case. Still, the fact that the court won’t weigh on the disqualification effort until October means that the case isn’t going to trial before this appeal is resolved.
It’s not clear what day in October the oral argument hearing will take place. The three-judge panel assigned to hear the case includes Judges Yvette Miller, Todd Markle, and Ben Land.
Trump was first indicted alongside 18 others in a sweeping racketeering case last August, alleging he formed a criminal enterprise to subvert the state’s election results.
Four of the original defendants have taken plea deals, and not every remaining defendant has appealed McAfee’s removal order, meaning theoretically, some defendants could still go to trial before Trump and others who have appealed the decision not to kick Willis from the case.
The relationship between Willis and Wade came from a bombshell complaint in January from co-defendant Mike Roman, a Republican operative who claimed the two prosecutors engaged in an “improper, clandestine” relationship that raised questions about whether the pair misused taxpayer dollars.
In hearings earlier this spring, defense attorneys attempted to bring forward witnesses and evidence that support their allegations against Willis, specifically that she financially benefited from the relationship, that it began before she hired him in late 2021, and that both prosecutors lied under oath about when they started dating.
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Willis and Wade acknowledged the relationship but said they didn’t begin dating until the spring of 2022, after Wade was hired in November 2021, and that their romance ended last summer. They also testified that they split travel costs roughly evenly, with Willis often paying expenses or reimbursements in cash.
An attorney for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.