Former President Donald Trump has lodged an appeal against the decision not to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the Georgia Court of Appeals on June 24. The district attorney has 20 days to submit a response.
Last August, former President Trump and 18 others were indicted under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act in a 41-count indictment for their involvement in contesting the 2020 election results. Four individuals have since accepted plea deals.
In January, codefendant Michael Roman, a former GOP strategist, filed a motion to disqualify Ms. Willis based on an affair she had with the outside attorney she hired to lead the case and alleged financial misconduct. Other defendants also joined, alleging prejudicial statements that constituted prosecutorial misconduct.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled that while there was an appearance of impropriety, there was no actual conflict of interest. As a remedy, the judge determined that Ms. Willis’s disqualification was not necessary if special prosecutor Nathan Wade was removed from the case, and Mr. Wade resigned on the same day.
The judge also criticized Ms. Willis’s behavior and extrajudicial statements but did not mandate her removal.
Defendants Challenge Trial Court Decision
Mr. Roman has also appealed, arguing that the trial court erred in distinguishing between conflict of interest and appearance of impropriety.
Codefendant David Shafer, a former Georgia GOP chair, argued that the trial court erred in establishing the standard for forensic misconduct and appearance of impropriety, as well as the appropriate remedies.
Codefendant Robert Cheeley, a former Trump campaign attorney, contended that the trial court made a mistake by not identifying a conflict of interest and disqualifying the district attorney as a solution to the determination of appearance of impropriety.
Codefendants Mark Meadows, Cathy Latham, Rudy Giuliani, Jeffrey Clark, and Harrison Floyd presented similar arguments, and the defendants have endorsed each other’s arguments in their appeals briefs.
Former President Trump’s appeal centers around a speech made by Ms. Willis in January, where she implied that the defendants had racist motives in seeking her disqualification.
Forensic Misconduct Standard
Former President Trump argued that the findings made by Judge McAfee justified disqualification, stating that he ordered an incorrect remedy.
Judge McAfee concluded that Ms. Willis delivered a “legally improper” speech about the defendants and that her actions created a “significant appearance of impropriety,” but his directive was not directed at Ms. Willis herself.
“Should a prosecutor be disqualified for intentionally and repeatedly breaching ethical and professional standards to prejudice defendants for personal or political gain? Yes. Is disqualification necessary when a prosecutor gives false testimony, conceals misconduct, and creates ‘an odor of mendacity’ resulting in a ‘significant appearance of impropriety?’ Undoubtedly so,” the brief states.
“If this prosecutor diverts attention from her misconduct by alleging on national television that the defendants are dishonest racists for bringing the truthful accusations to light, can anyone have confidence in the impartiality of the prosecutor’s actions? Absolutely not.”
At the time of Mr. Roman’s disqualification motion, the affair between Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade was undisclosed. In Ms. Willis’s broadcasted speech at a large Atlanta church, she did not confirm the veracity of the affair allegation. She insinuated that people were playing the “race card” by questioning her relationship with the black man she hired, but not with the white woman or white man she hired as outside counsel for the case. Subsequently, during testimony, Ms. Willis admitted to the existence of a romantic relationship.
Ms. Willis did not name the defendants in the speech, but Judge McAfee inferred that she was alluding to the defendants in the election case.
Attorneys for former President Trump asserted that Ms. Willis exploited her position and authority as district attorney to bias the public against the defendants and cited interviews she gave this year indicating a lack of regret for her extrajudicial statements. Ms. Willis has stated to reporters that she is “not ashamed of anything that I’ve done.”
They argue that prejudicing the public against the defendants violates their due process rights and that Ms. Willis’s actions contradict court directives to ensure fairness to a degree where, quoting precedent, “justice must embody the appearance of justice.”
Defense attorneys also contend that the appropriate remedy is dismissal of the indictment, as Mr. Wade’s involvement, which the trial court deemed improper, commenced with the grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment.
Could you please rewrite this sentence for me?
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