Atlanta – An appeals court has suspended the Georgia election interference case against the former president donald trump and others while analyzes the decision of the first instance judge allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case.
The Georgia Court of Appeals’ order Wednesday prevents Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee from moving forward with pretrial motions as he had planned while the appeal is pending. Although it was already unlikely that the case would go to trial before the November general election, when Trump expected to be the Republican candidate for president, that makes it even more certain.
The appeals court on Monday recorded the appeals filed by Trump and eight others and said that “if oral argument is requested and granted,” it is tentatively scheduled for October 4. side may appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
A spokesman for Willis declined to comment on the appeals court decision.
In August, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to try to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Four defendants pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors, but Trump and the others pleaded not guilty. He is one of four criminal cases against Trump.
Trump and eight other defendants sought to have Willis and her office removed from the case, arguing that a romantic relationship she had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest. McAfee in March found that there was no conflict of interest This was supposed to force Willis off the case, but he granted a request from Trump and the remaining defendants seek to appeal their decision to the state Court of Appeals.
McAfee wrote that “an odor of deceit remains.” He said “reasonable questions” about whether Willis and Wade testified to the truth about the timing of their relationship “further support a finding of an appearance of impropriety and the need to make commensurate efforts to cure it.” He said Willis could only stay on the case if Wade left, and the special prosecutor tendered his resignation hours later.
Allegations that Willis had unduly benefited from her romance with Wade resulted in a tumultuous few months in the case, as intimate details of Willis and Wade’s personal lives were aired in court in mid-February.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
