In the wake of his absurd ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case against Donald Trump despite blatant conflicts of interest and apparent lying under oath, Judge Scott McAfee is allowing the former president to immediately appeal the ruling.
On Wednesday, Judge Scott McAfee granted the certificate of immediate review Trump and eight of his co-defendants requested in the racketeering case. It is anticipated that they will petition the Georgia Court of Appeals to consider the disqualification battle prior to the commencement of the trial.
“This is highly significant,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead Georgia attorney, said in a statement. “It means the defense is permitted to apply to the Georgia Court of Appeals for pretrial review of the Judge’s order refusing to dismiss the case or disqualify Fulton County DA Willis [...] The defense is optimistic that appellate review will lead to the case being dismissed and the DA being disqualified.”
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The ruling was, as Sadow put it, "ripe" for review.
“In its Order, the Court found that District Attorney Willis’ actions had created an appearance of impropriety and an ‘odor of mendacity’ that lingers in this case, as well as the continuing possibility that ‘an outsider could reasonably think that District Attorney Willis is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences,'” the defendants' motion read. “Despite this, the Court declined to disqualify District [Attorney] Willis, finding that eliminating only the Special Assistant District Attorney would cure the lingering appearance of impropriety."
Despite the ruling, the case will continue in court, as The Hill reports:
“The Court intends to continue addressing the many other unrelated pending pretrial motions, regardless of whether the petition is granted within 45 days of filing, and even if any subsequent appeal is expedited by the appellate court,” McAfee explained in his ruling.
Trump and his allies are accused of racketeering and other criminal charges by entering a months-long criminal conspiracy to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Georgia. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges as well as those levied in his three other criminal cases.
The former president and many of his co-defendants are attempting to boot Willis and her entire office from the case over the district attorney’s once-romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor who led the Georgia criminal investigation into the former president.
The romance revelation created a months long detour in the case that included multiple hearings full of salacious testimony. Last week, the judge capped the battle by ruling that Willis could remain on the case if Wade left. Hours later, Wade resigned.
Trump and his co-defendants are now attempting to bring the matter to a higher court in the state, hoping to reverse the ruling to stall the case or even get the charges tossed entirely. They contend the romance created an actual conflict of interest, a notion that the district attorney’s office has rejected.
It will now be up to the Georgia Court of Appeals to decide whether to take up the appeal. If they decline, McAffee's previous ruling stands. If they take it, it will, at the very least, delay proceedings further, but could potentially result in Willis being removed from the case.
It's not over yet.
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