A Georgia appeals court will hear arguments in October to determine whether to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting Donald Trump for attempting to overturn his 2020 defeat, a schedule likely to postpone the trial until after the Nov. 5 election.
The court will examine whether Willis’ past affair with her former top deputy, whom she hired to work on the probe, taints the prosecution. Trump’s legal team has cited the affair as grounds to derail the case. However, the judge overseeing the trial ruled in March that Willis could remain on the case.
The Georgia election interference case is one of three criminal trials Trump faces, with all three delayed for various reasons. Last week, Trump became the first former president in U.S. history to be convicted of a crime when a New York City jury found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in the weeks before the 2016 election.
The Georgia appeals court did not specify the exact date in October for hearing the arguments on disqualifying Willis, but the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the case will be heard on Oct. 4.
Willis also plans to ask the court to overturn a lower court ruling that dismissed several counts against Trump in the 2020 election subversion case, arguing that the indictment lacked sufficient detail to sustain those charges.
