Former President Donald Trump's legal team is seeking to appeal a lower court's decision to allow embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to head the case against him, Newsweek reported. Willis has been accused of misconduct for carrying on an affair with another lead prosecutor in the case.
The former president is embroiled in a racketeering case with 18 other defendants for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. However, it later came out that Willis was romantically involved with Nathan Wade before hiring him to help prosecute the case.
Trump's lead attorney, Steve Sadow, had argued that Willis should be removed from his election interference case in Georgia over this misconduct. Notably, Wade, who was her special assistant, was forced to resign.
However, a lower court ruled in March that Willis may remain on the case despite Wade's fate nearly proving her misconduct. The filing to the state's appeals court hopes to overturn that decision.
The opening brief from Trump's legal team asserts that Willis "engaged in a deliberate, calculated plan and pattern of misconduct" in hiring Wade and continuing their relationship. Trump's attorneys believe this presents a conflict of interest in prosecuting the former president.
In a statement, Sadow said that his legal filing "persuasively argues that the trial court should have dismissed the case and disqualified Willis" both for her actions and "the appearance of impropriety" because of her relationship with Wade. "We are optimistic that the [Georgia Appeals] Court will favorably decide the appeal in our favor," Sadow added.
Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing Trump's case, was critical of Willis even as he allowed her to continue in her role. One of the many problems was Willis' own public statements about the case, the Associated Press reported.
The judge said that her comments would have needed to be "egregiously" inappropriate to remove her from the case. Still, McAfee admitted that she made an "unorthodox" decision to go on record with statements about the case to authors who are writing a book about the investigation.
Willis had also made veiled accusations that racist motives were behind the objections to her remaining on the case despite her relationship with Wade. The judge decided that because she didn't use the defendants' names or details of the case, those remarks were not enough to disqualify her either.
The details of how Willis conducted herself certainly raise questions about why she was able to continue in her job. Perhaps the Georgia appeals court will have the answer that finds in favor of Trump.
For now, the Georgia case against Trump is paused indefinitely, pending the outcome of this issue. Unfortunately, this is no guarantee as Trump hasn't had much luck with the legal system actually delivering justice.
Despite shaky merits and a convoluted legal theory that should have been laughed out of court, Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, Fox News reported. He rightly lashed out at the court, saying what many were thinking about the case.
"It's weaponization, and it's a very dangerous thing. We've never had that in this country," Trump said following his conviction.
Willis did not act in a manner proper to a professional, and certainly not one who is prosecuting a former president and likely GOP presidential candidate. The only correct action would be for the judge to remove Willis and throw out the charges immediately.
