The Georgia Court of Appeals on Tuesday set the hearing for former President Donald Trump 's effort to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from his case for Dec. 5, one month after the 2024 presidential election .
The appeals court previously said the hearing over whether Willis can remain on the case would be set for early October . Now the appeal will not be heard until a month after the Nov. 5 rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden , a dire sign for the case's future.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee declined to remove Willis from the case earlier this year after Trump and several of his co-defendants alleged there was a conflict of interest following revelations of a secret relationship between Willis and her hired special prosecutor, Nathan Wade.
Trump appealed McAfee's decision, teeing off a further delay in the case and raising questions about whether it would move forward at all if Trump were to return to the Oval Office in 2025.
George State University professor Anthony Kreis said if Trump wins in November, then his case would "have to be severed and the remaining defendants tried in 2025 at some point. (Maybe)," according to a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Kreis said one potential silver lining for Willis is that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who were both charged in the indictment, "can be tried together with the other big fish" including former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani so long as Willis isn't ultimately removed from the case.
The order setting the hearing comes one day after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed a separate federal indictment against Trump related to his clinging to classified documents after leaving the Oval Office in 2021 and his alleged efforts to obstruct the government's retrieval of those records. Cannon's decision was based in part on the Supreme Court's Trump v. United States decision on July 1, which kicked a second federal case back to a Washington, D.C. judge to begin a fact-finding task to determine whether Trump is immune from certain aspects of that separate case.
Trump could still attempt to use that immunity ruling to make an argument that the state criminal case in Georgia should be dismissed, although some experts such as Kreis have pushed back on the notion that it affects Willis's case . However, the Supreme Court decision could have implications for precluding some evidence in the racketeering case, such as conversations the former president had with Clark and Meadows.
Those conversations "will be part of protected conduct that cannot be used against Trump as evidence in furtherance of proving other charges," Kreis told a local NBC affiliate earlier this month.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The former president was first indicted last August alongside 18 others in a sweeping racketeering case that alleged he formed a criminal enterprise to subvert the state’s election results.
Read the order from the appeals court:
Oral Argument - COA by Kaelan Deese on Scribd
Local Georgia State
Most Popular
Comments / 0