Just two days after Judge Scott McAfee issued a ruling in the misconduct hearing involving Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis, lawyers for Trump and his co-defendants have submitted an appeal.
McAfee initially ruled that the defendants failed to prove that Willis benefitted from her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. However, he gave a ruling that Willis or Wade would have to step aside from the case. Wade resigned.
But that wasn’t enough for Trump and his co-defendants.
On March 18, the lawyers for the defendants submitted a “certificate of immediate review,” which allows them to appeal McAfee’s ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
This appeal focused on comments that Willis made during her MLK Day speech at historic Big Bethel AME Church. In his ruling on Friday, McAfee said Willis’ remarks were “legally improper.”
“The Court also found that District Attorney Willis’ nationally publicized speech at Big Bethel AME Church on January 14, 2024 was ‘legally improper’ but declined to disqualify her on the basis of this forensic misconduct,” Trump’s defense team wrote.
McAfee could grant the appeal and it would be decided by the Court of Appeals. Or if he denies, Trump lawyers would take it to the Georgia Supreme Court and ask that they hear the appeal.
The entire two-month ordeal that focused on Willis and Wade’s relationship provided political entertainment, but it took away the attention from Trump and his co-defendant’s alleged crimes of attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
The RICO case centers around the 2020 election probe when Trump asked former Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during a phone call to help him secure over 11,000 votes, the amount in which he trailed Joe Biden in Georgia.
During a recorded call that took place on Jan. 2, 2021, Trump told Raffensperger, “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
