Georgia Appeals Court Grants Review Of Judge McAfee’s Ruling To Allow Fani Willis To Stay On RICO Case
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis listens during the final arguments in her disqualification hearing at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. | Source: ALEX SLITZ / Getty
While Donald Trump is currently on trial in New York for allegedly paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and falsifying business records to cover it up, MAGA World defendants are still working hard at derailing another criminal case against the ex-president and his cohorts in Georgia, where Trump and more than a dozen other defendants have been accused of election interference. As usual, their prime target is Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and, on Wednesday, a Georgia appeals court agreed to review the bid to get Willis disqualified from prosecuting the RICO case.
As we previously reported in March, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled earlier this year that a relatively brief romantic relationship between Willis and the special prosecutor she appointed to the case of Trump-and-pals, Nathan Wade, didn’t amount to the ethical misconduct and conflict of interest that was asserted by an attorney for RICO defendant Michael Roman, who argued Wade, Willis and her entire office should be barred from prosecuting the case because Willis and Wade were involved in an inappropriate romantic relationship, that Willis paid Wade large sums of money for his work and that she benefitted when he paid for lavish vacations.
MORE: Reclaiming Her Time: Fani T. Willis’ Letter to Nathan Wade After Trump’s Motion Was Defeated
But Roman’s legal team wasn’t able to prove anything outside of the fact that Willis and Wade had a relationship, because arguing things without being able to back them up with evidence is pretty much what happens in Trump Land. So, while McAfee acknowledged that the relationship did present the “appearance of impropriety,” he said he couldn’t simply remove them from the case “without sufficient evidence” of anything else the Roman’s people were accusing them of—which had the MAGA World hopping MAGA mad.
McAfee did rule that either Willis or Wade had to recuse themselves from the case, which Wade did shortly after, and that should have been enough to put the issue to bed and move the RICO case forward, but it was never going to be enough for Willis’ legal opponents, who really only seem to want to delay the case until after the presidential election in November, and, as a bonus, to tear down and humiliate a Black woman whose only “crime” was having an active social life.
From the Associated Press:
That intermediate appeals court agreed on Wednesday to take up the case. Once it rules, the losing side could ask the Georgia Supreme Court to consider an appeal.
Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, Steve Sadow, said in an email that the former president looks forward to presenting arguments to the appeals court as to why the case should be dismissed and why Willis “should be disqualified for her misconduct in this unjustified, unwarranted political persecution.”
In his order, McAfee said he planned to continue to address other pretrial motions “regardless of whether the petition is granted … and even if any subsequent appeal is expedited by the appellate court.” But Trump and the others could ask the Court of Appeals to stay the case while the appeal is pending.
Trump’s attorneys keep pretending the RICO case represents some grave miscarriage of justice because they want so badly for it to be perceived as normal that a sitting president responded to losing an election by throwing an extended temper tantrum, launching into a propaganda campaign alleging widespread voter fraud that didn’t exist, harassing election workers (who are also Black women) who were just doing their jobs, and putting pressure on Georgia officials to “find votes” for Trump that also didn’t exist.
And, again, if Trump, his co-defendants and their legal teams can continue their misogynoir-inspired public attack on Willis, that just puts the icing on their corrupt white nationalist cake.
SEE ALSO:
‘Whore’: Donald Trump Jr. Posts Misogynistic Meme Attacking Fani Willis
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