A Georgia appeals court has halted the election subversion conspiracy case against Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants – a massive victory for the former president seeking to push further legal issues until 2025 if he can’t beat them altogether.
The new order filed on Wednesday from the Georgia Court of Appeals is the latest indication that a trial in the state-level Georgia election subversion case will not occur before the 2024 presidential election. The court said the case will be on hold until a panel of judges rules on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified.
Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee had initially allowed proceedings in his courtroom to continue as the appeals court weighed an appeal of his decision to allow Willis to remain on the case.
A spokesperson for Willis’ office said they can’t comment on the appeals court’s order at this point. The DA can ask the appeals court to fast track a decision in this matter if it chooses.
The appeals court’s decision underscores Trump’s series of successes in his long-running strategy to put prosecutors on the defensive, attack them in the public sphere and challenge them in court.
Trump and some of his co-defendants in the sprawling racketeering case have been trying to get Willis disqualified from the case because of a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to help handle the case. The defendants argued that Willis financially benefited from the relationship with Wade, who defense attorneys say covered several vacations for the pair.
Florida delays help Trump as well
Meanwhile, in Trump’s classified documents case in Florida, the federal judge overseeing those proceedings has shown propensity to devote large amounts of in-court time to Trump’s requests to question investigators and his prosecutors’ authority.
That judge, Aileen Cannon, indicated on Wednesday she still appears to be willing to hold a hearing where Trump could attempt to put federal investigators under oath so his attorneys could question them, and said she’ll dedicate a day and a half this month to hearing arguments about the legality of his prosecutor.
Like the Georgia case, the Florida documents case has no set trial date.
A panel of three judges on the appeals court is tentatively set to hear arguments in the disqualification bid Oct. 4. The case is being heard in its August term, and a decision must be rendered by March 14, 2025. The pause in proceedings makes it highly unlikely a trial will be held before the November election, when Trump will face off against President Biden for a second term in the White House. Willis’ office declined to comment.
Steve Sadow, the lead attorney for Trump’s Georgia legal team, said in a statement the appeals court “properly stayed all proceedings against President Trump in the trial court,” pending the appeal.
Trump and a group of his co-defendants in March appealed the decision from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee that allowed Willis to remain on the case if Wade resigned, which he did.
The disqualification effort has derailed proceedings in the Fulton County case for months while McAfee held evidentiary hearings to determine whether to grant the request by Trump and his allies to remove Willis and her office from the prosecution. The motion, brought by longtime GOP operative Michael Roman and later joined by the former president and seven others, accused Willis of having an improper romantic relationship with Wade and financially benefitting from it.
Willis and Wade admitted they were romantically involved, but said the relationship began after Wade was hired as special prosecutor in November 2021. It ended in the summer of 2023, they said. The two lawyers also denied that Willis financially benefited from the relationship and testified that they split the costs of expenses from trips they took together.
While rejecting the request to disqualify Willis, McAfee issued a scathing rebuke of the district attorney’s conduct. The judge said that while he couldn’t conclusively determine when the prosecutors’ relationship turned romantic, “an odor of mendacity remains.” McAfee criticized Willis for a “tremendous lapse in judgment.”
Trump faces 10 charges in the sprawling racketeering case brought by Fulton County prosecutors and has pleaded not guilty. The indictment returned by a grand jury last August alleges Trump and 18 others mounted an unlawful scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia and keep Trump in power. Four of the former president’s co-defendants have pleaded guilty after reaching plea deals with prosecutors.
The pause in proceedings in Georgia means that when voters cast their ballots for president in November, only one of the four criminal cases involving Trump will have gone to trial. Trump was convicted last week of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York, making him the first former president to be found guilty of a crime. He and his lawyers have vowed to appeal the conviction, kicking off a process that could take months or years to reach a conclusion. Trump is set to be sentenced July 11.
More on the Trump Georgia case
The latest: The Georgia Court of Appeals ordered a halt to proceedings in the election interference case against former president Donald Trump and eight other defendants pending the outcome of their appeal seeking to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis.
Status of the case: Trump and his associates are accused of conspiring to try to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. Four of Trump’s co-defendants have pleaded guilty. Trump previously entered a plea of not guilty. The case does not have a scheduled trial date and is paused until a ruling is made on Trump’s appe
Federal prosecutions brought in Washington, D.C., and South Florida have been either halted or are proceeding slowly. Trump was charged with four counts related to an alleged scheme to subvert the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election and 40 counts stemming from his handling of sensitive government records after leaving the White House and efforts to obstruct the investigation. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.