Judge allows appeal for Fani Willis' removal from Donald Trump Georgia case – Atlanta News First
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has agreed to consider a new motion from Donald Trump’s Georgia attorneys and others to dismiss DA Fani Willis from her historic racketeering indictment of the nation’s 45th president.
McAfee’s decision comes after a Monday filing that came after his ruling on Friday that Willis must remove special prosecutor Nathan Wade from the Trump racketeering indictment if Willis were to remain on the case.
Hours after his ruling, Wade resigned from the case, meaning Willis will continue prosecuting the case. Willis accepted Wade’s resignation, effective immediately.
23SC188947 2024.03.20 Certificate of Immediate Review by Lindsey Basye on Scribd
McAfee said the Fulton County case against Trump will continue regardless of whether the former president and his co-defendants go through an appeals process, which would be handled by the Georgia Court of Appeals.
“Judge McAfee has granted the motion for a certificate of immediate review filed by President Trump and eight other defendants,” Steve Sadow, one of Trump’s Georgia attorneys, said. “This is highly significant. It means the defense is permitted to apply to the Georgia Court of Appeals for pretrial review of the Judge’s order refusing to dismiss the case or disqualify Fulton County DA Willis. The defense is optimistic that appellate review will lead to the case being dismissed and the DA being disqualified.”
On Monday, Sadow and attorney Jennifer Little filed a motion requesting McAfee reconsider dismissing Willis from the case. Sadow said his motion “notes that the court found that Willis’ actions created an appearance of impropriety and an ‘odor of mendacity’ that lingers in this case, but it nonetheless refused to dismiss the case or disqualify her.”
“The motion further notes that the court found Georgia case law lacks controlling precedent for the standard for disqualification of a prosecuting attorney for forensic misconduct,” Sadow said. “For these reasons among others, the court’s order is ripe for pretrial appellate review.”
Trump – Joint Motion for Certificate of Immediate Review (003) by Lindsey Basye on Scribd
McAfee wrote an “odor of mendacity,” or untruthfulness, remains around the case.
Since early January, Willis has been facing allegations she misused taxpayer funds and crossed ethical boundaries during her romantic relationship with Wade, an issue McAfee addressed in his March 15, 2024, ruling.
On March 1, McAfee heard three hours worth of closing arguments from attorneys representing Willis and some of Trump’s co-defendants, and said he hoped to make a decision on the case “over the next two weeks.” That two-week window expired Friday.
Last wee, McAfee also ruled six of the charges in the Trump’s indictment must be quashed, including three against Trump. But the order leaves intact many other charges in the indictment and McAfee wrote prosecutors could seek a new indictment on the charges he dismissed.
The six charges dismissed were related to soliciting elected officials to violate their oaths of office. That includes two charges related to the phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on Jan. 2, 2021.
The questioning started in early January, when a court filing by Michael Roman, one of Trump’s co-defendants, and Ashleigh Merchant, his attorney, accused Willis and special prosecutor Wade of having a romantic relationship.
Roman is a former White House aide who served as the director of Trump’s election day operations. Prosecutors allege Roman was involved in efforts to put forth a set of fake electors after the 2020 election, a charge to which Roman has pleaded not guilty.
Roman’s court filing claims Willis and Wade took lavish vacations together and that Wade used part of his salary from the district attorney’s office to travel with Willis. Merchant also claims to have discovered “outside of court filings” that Willis and Wade went on trips together.
Trump and 18 of his GOP allies were indicted by Willis and her office in August 2023 on charges they engaged in a criminal conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. That election saw Democrat Joe Biden become the first Democrat to carry a deep Southern state in a presidential election since Bill Clinton’s victory in 1992.
Atlanta News First and Atlanta News First+ provide you with the latest news, headlines and insights as Georgia continues its role at the forefront of the nation’s political scene. Download our Atlanta News First app for the latest political news and information.
Copyright 2024 WANF. All rights reserved.