A Georgia judge on Wednesday gave former President Donald Trump the green light to appeal his decision allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain in charge of his RICO election interference case.
Judge Scott McAfee told Trump and several co-defendants they can ask a higher court to consider their demand to disqualify Willis from the case over her affair with top lieutenant Nathan Wade.
Despite handing a win to Trump, the judge said he would not halt proceedings in the case while the appeal process goes forward.
“The court intends to continue to address the many other pretrial motions, regardless of whether the petition is granted,” McAfee wrote in the brief order.
Trump and his co-defendants can now seek to convince the Georgia court of appeals that McAfee erred in permitting Willis to stay on the case if Wade stepped down.
The judge issued a harshly worded decision last week that criticized Willis and Wade for their affair but rejected the allegation that their affair amounted to an impermissible financial conflict of interest.
Wade resigned from the blockbuster case on Friday, leaving Willis to lead the sprawling prosecution of Trump for trying to overturn his 2020 loss to President Biden.
The Georgia probe was launched when Trump infamously called Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to demand he somehow “find” just enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in the Peach State.
An Atlanta special grand jury heard months of evidence that the call was part of a plot to steal the election culminating with the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The side-issue over Willis’ missteps has already delayed the case against Trump for months. No trial date has been set and there are no guarantees it would take place before the presidential election in which Trump and Biden face off in a cataclysmic rematch.
