The Georgia Court of Appeals has temporarily suspended proceedings in the 2020 election case involving former President Donald Trump as it considers a trial judge’s decision allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the case.
The court’s stay only applies to Trump and the eight co-defendants, who wanted Willis and her office removed from the case due to her intimate relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor.
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The appeals court has provisionally scheduled a panel of three judges to hear arguments in the disqualification bid on October 4. The August term is hearing the case, and a ruling is required by March 14, 2025. The suspension in procedures makes it exceedingly unlikely that a trial will take place before the November election, when Trump would fight President Biden for a second term in the White House. Willis’ office has declined to respond.
Steve Sadow, lead attorney for Trump’s Georgia legal team, said in a statement that the appeals court “properly stayed all proceedings against President Trump in the trial court,” awaiting the appeal.
Trump and some of his co-defendants filed an appeal in March against Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to allow Willis to remain on the case if Wade resigned, which he did.
The disqualification effort has stalled proceedings in the Fulton County case for months, while McAfee conducts evidence hearings to consider whether to approve Trump and his allies’ request to remove Willis and her office from prosecution. The motion, filed by longtime GOP operative Michael Roman and later joined by the former president and seven others, accused Willis of engaging in an inappropriate romantic connection with Wade and profiting financially from it.
Willis and Wade acknowledged their romantic connection, stating that it started when Wade secured a position as a special prosecutor in November 2021. They stated that it would expire in the summer of 2023. The two lawyers also denied that Willis benefited financially from the connection, stating that they shared the costs of bills from excursions they did together.
While rejecting the plea to dismiss Willis, McAfee delivered a harsh criticism of the district attorney’s actions. The judge stated that while he could not definitively determine when the prosecutors’ connection became sexual, “an odor of mendacity remains.” McAfee accused Willis of a “tremendous lapse in judgment.”
Fulton County prosecutors have charged Trump with ten counts of racketeering, and he has pleaded not guilty. A grand jury indictment returned in August says that Trump and 18 others conspired to alter the results of Georgia’s 2020 election and keep Trump in office. Four of the former president’s co-defendants have pleaded guilty after reaching an agreement with prosecutors.
Because of the suspension in Georgia proceedings, just one of Trump’s four criminal prosecutions will have gone to trial when voters vote for president in November. Last Thursday, New York found Trump guilty of 34 felony charges of falsifying corporate records, making him the first former president to face criminal conviction. He and his lawyers have pledged to challenge the conviction, which may take months or years to resolve. The court will sentence Trump on July 11.
The federal prosecutions in Washington, D.C., and South Florida have either stopped or are progressing slowly. The prosecution charged Trump with four charges related to an alleged conspiracy to undermine the transition of presidential authority following the 2020 election, and 40 counts related to his handling of sensitive government records after leaving the White House and his efforts to obstruct the investigation. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The Supreme Court is evaluating whether Trump is immune from federal criminal charges for alleged official activities, halting the proceedings in Washington. A South Florida judge delayed a trial indefinitely due to pending pre-trial petitions and other issues.
