ATLANTA – Attorneys for former President Donald Trump and his seven co-defendants in the Georgia election meddling case are seeking reconsideration of a Georgia judge’s ruling. not to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis.
Monday’s lawsuit comes after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said Friday morning that Willis would be allowed to stay home. racketeering he has filed against the former president if the special prosecutor he appointed to the case, Nathan Wade, resigns. Wade resigned later that afternoon.
Trump’s attorneys and defendants have accused both Willis and Wade of abuse, alleging that the district attorney benefited financially from her romantic relationship with Wade after the two went on vacation together while working on the case. McAfee found no conflict of interest, but said either Willis and his office or Wade should have stepped aside because of the “appearance of impropriety.”
In Monday’s filing, Trump and his co-defendants argued that Wade’s resignation was “insufficient to cure the appearance of impropriety that the court found to exist” and said the matter should be decided by the state Court of Appeals.
Trump’s lawyer Steve Sadow said in a statement Monday that McAfee’s decision was “ripe for pre-trial appellate review” and that the judge “found that Willis’ actions created a continuing impropriety and ‘reek of betrayal’ in this case.” “However, it refused to suspend or disqualify him.”
The defendants have no way to directly appeal McAfee’s decision at this stage, so they can ask the judge to “immediate inspection certificate” which will take the matter to an appeals court.
If the appeals court takes up the matter, it might potentially a pauetce of the general proceedings on the election interference case.
Mcafee has not yet set a trial date. Willis’ office had previously asked to begin work in early August.
Trump and his co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges that they conspired to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Blayn Alexander and Charlie Gile reported from Atlanta, and Dareh Gregorian reported from New York.