Trump Fights Ruling That Keeps Willis on Election Case

Donald Trump's lawyers filed an emergency appeal Monday in Georgia of a ruling that allows Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the former president's election fraud case. Judge Scott McAfee decided last week that either Willis or special prosecutor Nathan Wade, with whom she had a romantic relationship, had to resign from the case; Wade then stepped down. Trump and seven co-defendants want everyone in the district attorney's office disqualified, USA Today reports, which is what their original motion filed in January sought.

The defendants' nine-page motion asks McAfee to approve a certificate of immediate review to let them appeal to a higher state court before trial begins, though that date isn't yet set, per the Hill. If the judge agrees, the lawyers would have 10 days to apply for a review by the appellate court. Melissa Redmon, director of the University of Georgia's Prosecutorial Justice Program, said appeals like this are rarely granted. The motion says that McAfee allowed Willis to remain on the case though the appearance of a conflict exists among prosecutors, and that an outsider could still doubt the independence of her judgment. "For these reasons among others, the Court's Order is ripe for pretrial appellate review," Trump lawyer Steven Sadow said in a statement. (More Fani Willis stories.)