Trump defense appeals ruling letting Willis remain on case

The Georgia Court of Appeals agreed Wednesday to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue leading the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

The appellate court’s decision means further delays in a case that already has been slowed by a defense motion to remove Willis from prosecuting Trump and 18 codefendants because of a romantic relationship between the DA and Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to lead the case.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that Willis could remain on the case if Wade resigned, which he did several hours later.

A Fulton grand jury handed down an indictment last August charging Trump and his associates with racketeering for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Democrat Joe Biden carried the Peach State by the razor-thin margin of 11,780 votes.

Since then, several of the defendants have pleaded guilty, while McAfee has dismissed six of the 41 counts filed against Trump and several co-defendants. The judge declared the charges legally defective.

In the March ruling on the motion to disqualify Willis, McAfee declared the defendants failed to meet their burden of proof that the relationship between the DA and Wade resulted in an actual conflict of interest. But the judge declared that the appearance of a conflict was sufficient to infect “the current structure of the prosecution team.”

He gave Willis the option of removing herself from the case or remaining if Wade stepped aside.