Former President Donald Trump filed a notice of appeal with the Georgia Court of Appeals on Thursday regarding his bid to overturn a lower court decision that allows Democrat Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to prosecute a 2020 election interference case against him.
On May 8, the appeals court granted Trump's legal team permission to file the appeal of a March decision by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee that allowed Willis to stay on the case, provided lead prosecutor Nathan Wade — who was hired by Willis and had a secret romantic relationship with her — resigned.
Trump and several co-defendants alleged Willis and Wade were romantically involved before his hiring and that she financially benefited from the relationship. Willis and Wade denied those allegations.
Five other co-defendants in the case — Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, Cathy Latham, Michael Roman, and David Shafer — have filed notices of appeal.
The Fulton County Superior Court clerk now must prepare the official record in the case and send it to the Court of Appeals, which then dockets the case and sends out briefing notices. The defendants then have 20 days to file their briefs, and the prosecution has 20 days after that to file its response.
A date for oral arguments can be set before or after the parties file their briefs. The appeals court must decide the appeal before the beginning of its March 2025 term, assuming the appeal is docketed before its August term begins.
It now seems unlikely that Trump and the co-defendants will go on trial before November's election, especially if the appeals court decides to remove Willis from the case.
"President Trump looks forward to presenting interlocutory arguments to the Georgia Court of Appeals as to why the case should be dismissed and Fulton County DA Willis should be disqualified for her misconduct in this unjustified, unwarranted political persecution," Trump attorney Steve Sadow said in a statement to Fox News.
In his March ruling, McAfee said although Willis' "reimbursement practice" was "unusual and the lack of any documentary corroboration understandably concerning," he ultimately decided the defendants did not present "sufficient evidence" that expenses weren't "roughly divided evenly."
He also said, "The evidence demonstrated that the financial gain flowing from [Willis'] relationship with Wade was not a motivating factor on the part of the District Attorney to indict and prosecute this case."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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