Oral arguments in former President Donald Trump’s appeal of a decision allowing an Atlanta-area district attorney to continue prosecuting an election interference case against him are now scheduled for Oct. 4, virtually guaranteeing that the trial it will not begin before the presidential elections a month later. .
The Georgia Court of Appeals announced Monday that arguments in the case would be held in October. Trump and eight co-defendants seek to overturn the trial judge’s decision to keep Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) and her office on the case despite her claims that she had had an inappropriate relationship with an outside lawyer he had. appointed to lead the investigation.
The announcement comes amid significant delays in the two other pending cases against Trump. In early May, a federal judge indefinitely delayed Trump’s trial in Florida on charges of mishandling classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to recover them. In Washington, the federal case alleging that Trump broke the law when he conspired to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden is on hold, pending a Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s claim of presidential immunity.
That means Trump’s New York state trial, which concluded last week with a guilty verdict on all 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with money payments to an adult film actress in 2016, will likely be the only criminal case. to achieve trial status before the November 5 election between the two presumptive nominees, Trump and President Biden.
“We look forward to presenting arguments…as to why this case should be dismissed and Fulton County District Attorney Willis should be disqualified for ‘smelling of mendacity’ misconduct recognized by the trial court in violation of the Rules of Georgia Professional Conduct,” said Steve Sadow, Trump’s representative. lawyer in the Georgia case.
A spokesman for Willis declined to comment on the announcement.
Sadow and the other defendants asked the appeals court to overturn a decision by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. The judge said in a March 15 order that Trump and the others had “failed to meet their burden” of proving Willis’s romantic relationship with special counsel Nathan Wade and allegations that she was financially enriched by the trips she took. The two did together were enough of a “conflict of interest” to disqualify her from the case.
The eight other defendants who attempted to disqualify Willis and his staff are: former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani; former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark; former Trump campaign aide Mike Roman; former Trump campaign lawyer Robert Cheeley; two 2020 Trump electors, David Shafer and Cathy Latham; and Harrison Floyd, former leader of Black Voices for Trump.
All of the accused have pleaded not guilty. Six other defendants are not parties to the appeal. Four other people initially charged in the wide-ranging indictment that alleged a conspiracy to try to steal the 2020 election in Georgia have accepted guilty pleas.
The appellate judges assigned to the case are Trent Brown, Todd Markle and Ben Land, all from outside Atlanta, in more conservative parts of the state, which several defense attorneys said was probably good news for the defendants.
The court has two complete deadlines in its procedure to issue a ruling, a deadline that would end in the first week of March if the arguments proceed on October 4.
McAfee has continued to hold hearings in the lower court case since the nine defendants filed their appeal request, but the defendants are likely to ask the appeals panel to stay those proceedings for the duration of the appeal.
On the other hand, if Trump wins the election in November, his legal team is expected to try to stop the case during his second term. If successful, it is unclear whether Willis’ office would proceed with the prosecution of the other defendants while Trump is in the White House.
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