Trump, co-defendants appeal ruling allowing DA Fani Willis to remain on case – Atlanta News First
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Former President Donald Trump and the remaining defendants in Georgia’s historic racketeering indictment are formally appealing a judge’s ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case.
The appeal comes after Judge Scott McAfee gave the green light to allow such an appeal over his decision. The appeal, which was filed Friday in the Georgia Court of Appeals, was signed by all of the attorneys representing the remaining co-defendants who have not already settled the case in Fulton County Superior Court.
“While the trial court factually found DA Willis’ of 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’s disqualification,” the appeal reads. “To avoid structural error that would invalidate and require a repeat of the upcoming trials, to establish needed precedent in the area of disqualifying forensic misconduct and to protect and maintain the public’s confidence in the integrity of the the criminal justice system, (the) court should grant the application.”
“President Trump and eight other defendants filed their joint application for interlocutory appeal today. Defendants argued in the trial court that the indictment should have been dismissed and, at a minimum, DA Willis and her office should have been disqualified from prosecuting the case,” Steve Sadow, one of Trump’s Georgia attorneys, said. “The Georgia Court of Appeals should grant the application and accept the interlocutory appeal for consideration on the merits.”
Earlier this month, McAfee rejected defense efforts to remove Willis and her office over her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, but he did give the defendants permission to seek a review of his decision from the appeals court.
In mid-March, McAfee ruled Willis must remove Wade from the racketeering indictment if she were to remain on the case. Wade resigned just hours after that ruling.
The move to disqualify Willis came after one Michael Roman, one of Trump’s co-defendants, and Ashleigh Merchant, Roman’s attorney, accused the district attorney and Wade of having an improper relationship. Both Willis and Wade have since acknowledged a romantic relationship.
The allegations that Willis had improperly benefited from her romance with Wade upended the case for weeks. Intimate details of Willis and Wade’s personal lives were aired in court in mid-February. Trump and 18 others were indicted in August, accused of illegally trying to overturn his narrow 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia.
>> READ THE FULL APPEAL BELOW:
On Thursday, Trump’s lawyers and attorneys for former Georgia GOP chair David Shafer, argued Trump’s allegations of a stolen 2020 election clearly fall under the First Amendment’s protection of free speech.
“Election speech constitutes core political speech,” Sadow argued before McAfee. “The more [that speech] is protected, the less the government should be involved in restricting it. If you take out the political speech, there are no charges” against Trump, Sadow said.
Fulton County prosecutors argued Trump’s allegations of 2020 election fraud were an attempt to violate Georgia’s RICO laws, while Trump’s attorneys argue the Georgia election interference case seeks to criminalize political speech the First Amendment protects.
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