Georgia Appeals Court Sets Date To Hear Trump’s Appeal To Fani Willis Ruling

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Monday set a tentative date to hear oral arguments in Donald Trump’s appeal against a lower court ruling that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to stay on the case prosecuting the former president’s efforts to undo the 2020 election results in Georgia, according to a docket notice.

The hearing set for Oct. 4 likely means that the trial in the Georgia election case will take place after the Nov. 5 presidential election, where Trump is a major candidate as the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party.

The appeal will be heard by a panel of three judges — appointed by GOP governors — who were randomly selected, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Todd Markle, Trenton Brown and Benjamin Land.

Steve Sadow, one of the lawyers representing Trump in the case, said their team is looking forward to making the argument on “why this case should be dismissed, and Fulton County DA Willis should be disqualified for the trial court’s acknowledged ‘odor of mendacity’ misconduct in violation of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.”

Willis’ office has not commented on the docket notice.

Trump and some of his co-defendants moved to have Willis removed from the case, citing her relationship with a top prosecutor on her team, Nathan Wade, claiming she had benefitted from Wade’s hiring through dates, trips and meals he paid for with his public salary from his work on the case.

However, Judge Scott McAfee ultimately ruled that Willis could continue prosecuting the case if Wade resigned from her team.

“The evidence demonstrated that the financial gain flowing from her relationship with Wade was not a motivating factor on the part of the District Attorney to indict and prosecute this case,” McAfee wrote.

Still, McAfee noted Willis showed a “tremendous lapse in judgment.”

Wade submitted his resignation shortly after the ruling.

Yet, Trump’s team chose to appeal the decision, and the state’s court of appeals agreed in May to take up the case.

Trump and 18 other defendants were indicted in August 2023 under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law. Four of the former president’s co-defendants reached plea deals with prosecutors. Trump and the remaining 14 co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Monday’s docket notice comes as Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in his New York hush money trial last week, likely the only case to go to trial prior to the presidential race.

The case centered around a $130,000 hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Trump has pledged to appeal his conviction.