Georgia appeals court cancels arguments on removal of DA Fani Willis from Trump case
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been prosecuting a 2020 election interference case against Donald Trump and several of his allies in Georgia. (AP Photo/Alex Slitz, Pool)
ATLANTA—The Georgia Court of Appeals on Monday abruptly canceled oral arguments on Donald Trump’s appeal of a state court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) to continue prosecuting the 2020 election interference case against the president-elect and several of his allies.
In a brief notice filed late Monday afternoon, the appellate court said the arguments, originally scheduled to take place Dec. 5, are “hereby canceled until further order of this Court.” The notice gave no reason for the cancellation and caught many parties involved in the case by surprise.
The abrupt notice comes amid lingering questions about the future of the Georgia case against Trump as he prepares to return to the White House after his election victory this month.
While other prosecutions of the president-elect appear to be winding down—including those led by special counsel Jack Smith, who also charged Trump with 2020 election interference—Willis has strongly implied in the past that she will continue to pursue her office’s case against Trump unless a court blocks her. A spokesman for Willis declined to comment Monday on the appellate court notice.
Trump and several co-defendants have sought to overturn a March ruling allowing Willis to remain on the case after she was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with an outside attorney she hired to lead the election interference case.
In a March 15 order, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said Trump and the others had “failed to meet their burden” of proving that Willis’s romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade and allegations that she was financially enriched by trips the two took together were enough of a “conflict of interest” to disqualify her from the case. But McAfee did find a “significant appearance of impropriety” and ruled that either Willis and her office or Wade had to leave the case. Wade resigned that day.
In appellate filings, Trump and eight co-defendants have argued Wade’s departure was not enough to resolve the “appearance of impropriety” that has “cast a pall over these entire proceedings.” It called McAfee’s decision to keep Willis on the case an “erroneous failure” and a “structural error that would not just cause substantial error at trial” but could later cause a verdict to be overturned.
Fulton County prosecutors have argued McAfee granted Trump and his co-defendants “substantial leeway” in presenting evidence that Willis’s relationship with Wade compromised the case and found they did not meet their evidentiary burden. They have argued the court should uphold McAfee’s ruling and deny the appeal.
Last month, the appellate court granted a joint request from lawyers for Trump and his co-defendants seeking additional time to argue their case—expanding their arguments from 15 minutes to one hour per side. A three-judge panel assigned to hear the case was expected to render a decision by March, with the losing side to appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court after that—further delaying a case that has been at a standstill for the better part of a year.
Steven Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, previously argued that if Trump regained the presidency, the case against his client would have to be delayed until 2029. “Under the supremacy clause and its duty to the president of the United States, this trial would not take place at all until after he left his term of office,” Sadow said.
But even if Trump is removed from the proceedings, the case is expected to move on for the 14 others who are charged, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.
