Court Of Appeals To Review Donald Trump Appeal

The decision of Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to not remove Fulton County DA Fani Willis due to her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, which raised concerns about impropriety and threatened to overturn Willis’ prosecution, was challenged by nine defendants, including Trump, in an appeal filed to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

In light of the defendants’ allegations that Willis’s intimate relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade—a former judge she hired to assist with the case—constituted a conflict of interest and a violation of state public money regulations, McAfee, the case manager, decided not to disqualify Willis.

In a split ruling, McAfee ordered Wade or Willis to withdraw from the case due to the “appearance of impropriety,” a decision that resulted in Wade’s resignation a few hours later.

However, he did not remove Willis from the case, contrary to what some defendants had sought.

The appeal on Friday was not shocking; a 10-day window to appeal the case to the Georgia Court of Appeals was opened last week by McAfee, who authorized Trump’s legal team to do so.

The evidence of Willis’ relationship with Wade that was discussed during the trial “created an appearance of impropriety in this case that cast a pall over these entire proceedings,” according to Trump and the co-defendants who appealed the case’s decision. They also claimed that allowing Willis to continue “is plain legal error requiring reversal.”

Trump and his co-defendants maintain that “the indictment should have been dismissed and, at a minimum, DA Willis and her office should have been disqualified from prosecuting the case.” Trump’s Georgian attorney, Steve Sadow, announced the filing on X, pleading with the Court of Appeals to grant the application and take the appeal under consideration.

Trump’s motion is currently being reviewed, and the Georgia Court of Appeals has 45 days to determine whether to approve the appeal or not.

The order that the defendants are appealing “appears to be dispositive of the case,” was made incorrectly, and could result in “substantial error at trial or affect the rights of the appealing party,” they must demonstrate to the court.