ATLANTA – A Georgia appeals court has scheduled an October hearing on former President Donald Trump’s continued efforts to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis from her position as prosecutor in a case she filed against the former president over her alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Willis, who admitted to being in a romantic relationship before Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor he hired to help prosecute the case against Trump, was allowed to remain as prosecutor after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that he did not need to be removed. Firing Willis would likely have ended the prosecution.
Instead, McAfee said, either Willis or Wade should recuse himself from the case. Wade leaving the case would have no effect on the ongoing pursuit, and within hours he announced his resignation.
McAfee ruled that while the defense could not prove that Willis had direct financial benefits, “allegations of an actual conflict must be dismissed” in the absence of an “actual conflict.”
“This result does not in any way indicate that the Court condoned this gross violation of the sentence or the unprofessionalism of the district attorney’s testimony during the evidentiary hearing. Rather, in the undersigned’s view, Georgia law simply does not permit a finding of factual conflict, even for repeated wrongful selection, and the trial court’s duty is to confine itself to the relevant issues properly raised before it and the applicable law,” he added.
However, McAfee did not prohibit the defense from waiting until after the trial to file an appeal. The case continues in the appeal process.
State charges have been brought against Trump and 18 other people racketeering charges It is related to efforts to cancel the 2020 elections. Four of the co-defendants have pleaded guilty as part of deals with prosecutors. All 15 defendants, including Trump, pleaded not guilty.