Former President Donald Trump, along with several of his co-defendants, are requesting that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee grant permission to appeal, after he ruled against dismissing the case entirely and disqualifying District Attorney Fani Willis.
Last week, McAfee denied a full dismissal of the case against Trump, and Willis was not required to be disqualified, instead demanding that Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade resign from the case. He warned that, without Wade’s withdrawal, Willis would be disqualified from prosecuting Trump. Wade withdrew within hours of the judge’s order.
Four co-defendants accused Willis of having an “improper” affair with Wade, alleging that she hired him to help prosecute the case while they were engaged in an intimate relationship, and that she gained financial benefits by paying him an increased rate and going on multiple vacations with him.
Michael Roman, a Republican operative who worked on Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, claimed Wade’s law firm billed taxpayers $650,000 at a rate of $250 an hour since his hiring — and that he used that income to pay for vacations with Willis.
Willis and Wade have admitted that they were in a “personal” relationship, but alleged that it began after Wade had been hired. They both testified that they split the cost for their shared trips, and Willis told the court she reimbursed Wade for her share of the trips in cash.
The motion Monday was filed on behalf of Trump and several co-defendants, including Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Robert Cheeley, Michael Roman, David Shafer, Harrison Floyd and Cathleen Latham. The group is requesting permission to appeal McAfee’s ruling.
“In its Order, the Court found that District Attorney Willis’ actions had created an appearance of impropriety and an ‘odor of mendacity’ that lingers in this case, as well as the continuing possibility that ‘an outsider could reasonably think that District Attorney Willis is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences,’” the motion states. “Despite this, the Court declined to disqualify District Attorney Willis, finding that eliminating only the Special Assistant District Attorney would cure the lingering appearance of impropriety.”
The motion adds that defendants “believe that the relevant case law requires dismissal of the case, or at the very least, the disqualification of the District Attorney and her entire office under the facts that exist here, and the resignation of Mr. Wade is insufficient to cure the appearance of impropriety the Court has determined exists.”
“Given these facts and the current state of case law, the Court of Appeals should speak definitively to this outcome-determinative issue now.”
Trump attorney Steve Sadow added in a statement, “The motion further notes that the Court found Georgia case law lacks controlling precedent for the standard for disqualification of a prosecuting attorney for forensic misconduct. For these reasons among others, the Court’s Order is ripe for pretrial appellate review.”
This comes after McAfee also eliminated six counts against Trump and his 18 co-defendants in the case, saying in an order Wednesday that the state failed to allege sufficient detail for six counts of “solicitation of violation of oath by public officer.”
“The Court’s concern is less that the State has failed to allege sufficient conduct of the Defendants – in fact it has alleged an abundance. However, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is, in the undersigned opinion, fatal,” McAfee wrote.
“As written, these six counts contain all the essential elements of the crimes but fail to allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of their commission, i.e., the underlying felony solicited,” the judge continued. “They do not give the Defendants enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently, as the Defendants could have violated the Constitutions and thus the statute in dozens, if not hundreds, of distinct ways.”
The post BREAKING: Trump Requests To Appeal Georgia Judge’s Ruling That DA Fani Willis Can Remain On Election Case appeared first on Resist the Mainstream.
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Author: John Symank
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