Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Alex Slitz-Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images
A Georgia appeals court on Thursday disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from overseeing the criminal election interference prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump and other defendants.
But the Court of Appeals let stand the indictment against the defendants, who are accused of crimes related to their efforts to overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia’s 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
The ruling clears the way for the resumption of proceedings in the criminal case, and a possible trial for the defendants other than Trump. The president-elect is not expected to stand trial during his term in the White House, but he might face a trial after that term ends.
The decision overturns a Fulton County trial court judge’s ruling that allowed Willis to remain on the case despite arguments by Trump’s attorneys that she should be disqualified due to the impropriety of her romantic relationship with the top prosecutor whom she had picked.
The Court of Appeals in its decision said that the remedy offered by the trial judge â which let Willis remain on the case if the top prosecutor withdrew from handling it â was improper.
“We affirm, however, the denial of the appellants’ motion to dismiss the indictment,” the appeals court said.
The Georgia case is one of the two criminal cases that remain pending against Trump.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia, U.S. March 9, 2024.Â
Alyssa Pointer | Reuters
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