KATE BRUMBACK and SUDHIN THANAWALA
ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and other defendants in Georgia’s election interference case are asking to appeal a judge's ruling that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue their prosecution and not dismiss the charges.
The lawyers for Trump, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and five other defendants argued that the resignation of the special prosecutor who had a romantic relationship with Willis is not enough to fix the judge's concerns about potential impropriety.
They stated that it's crucial for appellate courts to review whether Willis and her office should be allowed to represent the State of Georgia in prosecuting the defendants before the trial.
The court filing requests Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to grant a certificate for the decision to be reviewed by the Georgia Court of Appeals. A spokesperson for Willis said the district attorney’s office couldn’t comment.
McAfee ruled on Friday that special prosecutor Nathan Wade had to leave the case or Willis couldn’t continue to pursue the charges. Wade later resigned, allowing Willis to remain on the case, which involves the most extensive allegations against the presumptive Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election.
McAfee did not find that Willis’ relationship with Wade created a conflict of interest, but he said it gave the appearance of impropriety that affected the prosecution team.
The attorneys for Trump and the other defendants in the latest filing said that failing to remove Willis now could jeopardize any convictions and possibly lead to a retrial if an appeals court later deems it necessary.
They stated, “Neither the Court nor the Parties should take the unnecessary risk of having to go through that process more than once.
Willis hired Wade in 2021 to lead the team investigating and prosecuting Trump and 18 others for attempting to illegally overturn his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia in 2020. The case uses a statute typically associated with organized crime to accuse the former president, lawyers, and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power.
Willis and Wade confirmed at a hearing last month that they were in a romantic relationship, but they rejected the claim that it improperly benefited Willis, as alleged by Trump's lawyers and some co-defendants. They stated that they didn’t start dating until after Wade became special prosecutor, and their relationship ended in the summer of 2023. They both asserted that Willis either paid for things herself or used cash to reimburse Wade for travel expenses.
McAfee wrote that there was not enough evidence to show that Willis had a personal interest in the prosecution. He also said he couldn't definitively determine whether Willis and Wade started dating before or after he was hired as special prosecutor.
The judge wrote that there is still a smell of lying.
The judge also criticized a speech Willis gave at a historic Black church in Atlanta less than a week after the allegations of her relationship with Wade surfaced, calling it “legally improper.” Willis expressed frustration in the speech about people questioning her decision to hire Wade and his qualifications, implying that the criticism was due to their race.
In Monday’s filing, it was mentioned that the speech and the appearance of wrongdoing McAfee found would likely be enough to disqualify Willis according to an appellate court.
