Ga. Appeals Court Sets Arguments in Trump Bid to Boot DA Willis From Case

(AP)

The Georgia Court of Appeals has docketed oral arguments in Donald Trump’s effort to disqualify Fulton County DA Fani Willis from Trump’s ongoing election interference case — signaling the criminal case itself won’t be tried before the Nov. 5 election.

The tentative date for those oral arguments was set for Oct. 4, according to an Axios report. The docketing was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday.

Axios described the timetable as a win for former President Trump, who has been trying to push for delays across four separate criminal indictments until after the November election against incumbent Joe Biden.

Trump is trying to remove Willis from the election interference case because she had a romantic relationship — and traveled with — a prosecutor whom she’d hired to help manage the case, Nathan Wade.

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee rebuked Willis in March for a “tremendous lapse in judgment,” but ruled she could stay on the case if Wade withdrew. He did just that the same day.

Trump, however, has continued to argue Willis has a conflict of interest after she paid Wade six figures and traveled with him.

Willis has consistently blasted the allegations of a conflict as politically motivated.

The three judges selected to consider whether Willis should remain on Trump’s case were Todd Markle, Trenton Brown and Benjamin Land.

In May, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee decided to give co-defendant Harrison Floyd’s team more time to build his argument about the accuracy of the 2020 election results and more time to arrange for legal experts to testify. Floyd was a senior Trump campaign staffer and among 19 indicted last year in Fulton County.

McAfee will be deciding whether Fulton County must comply with Floyd’s request for a recount of the 528,777 ballots cast in the county.

Trump and the 18 others were accused of trying to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia, where Biden defeated the ex-president by fewer than 12,000 votes.