On Friday, Donald Trump’s legal team filed an appeal aimed at reversing a decision by a Fulton County judge in Georgia, permitting District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the criminal racketeering case against the former president and eight co-defendants.
The 51-page motion submitted to Georgia Court of Appeals argues for clarity on the issue of “forensic misconduct,” under Georgia law that requires disqualification for certain acts of prosecutors. The appeal asserts that the trial judge, Scott McAfee, erred in not finding an actual conflict of interest. This argument hinges on Willis’ concealment of her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The appeal contends that this relationship, coupled with Willis’ conduct and statements, has tainted the case with bias and impropriety.
Specifically, the appeal criticizes a speech by Willis, dubbed the “church speech,” a 35-minute address before the Big Bethel AME Church, where she injected racial bias into the case and implied divine favor in her prosecution efforts. The filing argues,
While concealing her personal relationship with … Wade, improperly injected race and racial bias into the case, indicating that defendants and their counsel were racists for challenging her unethical conduct, that Defendants were guilty and would be convicted (boasting about her ‘superstar’ team with a ‘conviction rate of 95 percent’) … and implying that God himself had chosen her for this case, that he was on her side, and that she was doing His work in this prosecution.
McAfee’s ruling, while acknowledging lapses in judgment by Willis, stopped short of directly accusing her of lying but described certain actions as leaving an “odor of mendacity.”
The filing says,
The trial court labeled the cash repayments as ‘unusual’ and the lack of supporting documentation ‘understandably concerning. The trial court then went further, characterizing it is a ‘financial cloud of impropriety’.“Stopping just short of calling their testimony regarding these alleged cash payments an outright fabrication, the trial court half-heartedly said that her testimony on this issue was ‘not so incredible as to be inherently unbelievable.’
The appeal directly accuses Willis of being untruthful in her testimony about the relationship with Wade, and asserts that this creates an appearance of impropriety necessitating, at minimum, her removal from the case.
The filing states,
The trial court was bound by existing case law to not only require Wade’s disqualification (which occurred) but also to require the disqualification of DA Willis and her entire office. The trial court’s failure to do so is plain legal error requiring reversal.
Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow writes,
[T]he indictment should have been dismissed and, at a minimum, [District Attorney] Willis and her office should have been disqualified from prosecuting the case.
In his ruling, McAfee criticized Willis’ January 14 speech deeming it “legally improper.” However, he cited a lack of legal precedent and instruction in Georgia regarding disqualification based on such remarks. Trump and the eight co-defendants’ appeal is aimed at addressing this specific issue.
This is a developing story. RedState will bring you updates as they become available.
Read More:
Willis Claims ‘Jesus’ Told Her to Prosecute Trump, Attorney Who Blew Whistle on Affair Calls DA ‘Insane’
WATCH: Fani Willis’ Delusional Take on Being Role Model for Women, Shameless Comment About Jesus
