ATHENS, Ga. (AP) 鈥 A Georgia appeals court on Monday canceled oral arguments that were scheduled for next month on the appeal of a lower court ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue to prosecute the election interference case she brought against President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump and other defendants had asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to hold oral arguments in the case, and the court had . But in a one-line order with no further explanation, the appeals court said that hearing 鈥渋s hereby canceled until further order of this Court.鈥
A Fulton County grand jury in August 2023 , accusing them of participating in a sprawling scheme to illegally try to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. after reaching deals with prosecutors, but Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty.
But with Trump set to return to the White House in January, the future of the case against the once and future president was already in question even if the Court of Appeals ultimately says Willis shouldn't be disqualified.
Trump and other defendants filed the appeal seeking to get Willis and her office removed from the case and to have the case dismissed. They argue that a romantic relationship Willis had with created a conflict of interest. Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in March that should force Willis off the case, but he and the other defendants to seek an appeal of his ruling from the Court of Appeals.
McAfee wrote that 鈥渞easonable questions鈥 over whether Willis and Wade had testified truthfully about the timing of their relationship 鈥渇urther underpin the finding of an appearance of impropriety and the need to make proportional efforts to cure it.鈥 He allowed Willis to remain on the case only if Wade left, and the special prosecutor submitted his resignation hours later.
The allegations that Willis had improperly benefited from her romance with Wade resulted in a tumultuous couple of months in the case as intimate details of Willis and Wade鈥檚 personal lives were .
