Donald Trump will be allowed to appeal Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s decision that kept Fani Willis on the Georgia election case.
McAfee issued a so-called ‘certificate of immediate review,’ which allows Trump and seven of his co-defendants to appeal his ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals before the trial begins.
In a short order on Wednesday he wrote: ‘The request motion has been granted’.
In the meantime, the court will continue with other pretrial motions and housekeeping matters ‘regardless of whether the petition is granted within 45 days of filing, and even if any subsequent appeal is expedited by the appellate court.’
It was just the latest development with the potential to throw off the timetable for a Trump criminal trial, in a case that has drawn headlines for stunning revelations involving DA Fani Willis.
On Friday, McAfee denied a motion to disqualify Willis from the case over her relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
However, he said their relationship presented a conflict that required them to make a choice: Either she or Wade step down.
Donald Trump will be allowed to appeal Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s decision that kept Fani Willis on the Georgia election case
Wade resigned from the case just hours later.
Judge’s McAfee’s latest ruling also applies to Trump codefendants who are seeking to appeal the judge’s ruling.
It comes days after lawyers for Trump and codefendants sought the appeal, in part by citing ‘potential dishonesty’ in testimony after a dispute over when the prosecutors began their affair. They pointed to some of McAfee’s own language in his ruling allowing Willis to stay on the case, which included slamming some of her conduct as inappropriate.
‘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 of 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,’ write lawyers for Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and other codefendants, making use of some of the strongest language that McAfee included in his ruling.
The latest development came hours after lawyer Asheigh Merchant, who represents Trump codefendant Michael Roman, appeared on Fox News, where she spoke about the dramatic surprise appearance Willis made on the stand in an evidentiary hearing to speak about her relationship with Wade.
‘What surprised me was that she didn’t bring anything to actually back it up,’ she said.
‘So if someone had accused me of wrongdoing, I’m going to bring my phone. I’m going to bring my text messages. I’m going to bring my bank records. So that surprised me that she didn’t bring any actual proof. We just were stuck with her word that she paid back these transactions in cash. I would have brought transaction slips. I would have brought a lot of information if I had planned on taking the stand,’ she said.