Future of Fulton case against Trump now muddled

  (Raw Story) : The Georgia Court of Appeals is expected to take several months to rule on a request from former President Donald Trump and several co-defendants to remove the Fulton County district attorney from the 2020 presidential election interference case. The appeals court ruling means that District Attorney Fani Willis will renew a court battle with defense attorneys over whether Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee erred by rejecting a motion to disqualify Willis from the case after she admitted to a romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she hired in November 2021 to lead the probe into attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia and several other states. The appellate court ruled on the defenses’ motion within the 45-day window the law allows since the appeal was filed on March 29. The court order further diminishes the chance of the Fulton County District Attorney’s office convening a trial this year for racketeering and conspiracy charges against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and Trump’s 14 remaining co-defendants. Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow and other defense lawyers have argued that McAfee should not have allowed special prosecutor Nathan Wade to resign on March 15 while allowing Willis to remain on the case, alleging her hiring of Wade and then taking vacations to Aruba and other places with him amounted to prosecutorial misconduct. McAfee wrote in his March 15 court order that there is a need to address a “significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team,” referring ..