The attorney representing former President Donald Trump in the Georgia election case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked a Georgia appeals court, which is currently considering whether Willis should be disqualified due to her affair with former special counsel Nathan Wade, asked the court to toss the case with a new legal filing he argues contains the “death knell” for the prosecution.
Trump attorney Steve Sadow on Monday submitted a 22-page filing which asks the Georgia Court of Appeals to toss Willis’ case against Trump because the former president was “aggrieved” by Willis’ “letter to God” speech from the pulpit of a Baptist church in Atlanta.
In that January 2024 speech, made after she was publicly accused of enriching herself through Wade’s appointment, Willis suggested Trump and his co-defendants were motivated by racism. Willis also said “black women” should not be expected “to be perfect and save the world,” but instead should “be allowed to stumble” and be given “grace.”
According to Trump’s attorney, Willis’ speech meets the criteria established by former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Nelson Hill Jr., who wrote in a legal dissent that courts “should be sensitive to the potential for prejudice to the defendant” before trial.
“I believe that a trial court should disqualify the state’s attorney if his continued presence in the case would cause a reasonable potential for prejudice to the defendant,” wrote Hill, according to Sadow, who noted that Hill later declared even “reasonable potential for prejudice” to be sufficient cause for disqualification.
Trump’s attorney wrote that Willis made herself liable for disqualification for being both “a biased prosecutor and a prosecutor with personal (financial and political) interest in the proceedings.”
Co-defendants to the president previously surfaced credit card statements showing Wade paid for luxurious vacations using his business credit card during the period he received more than $650,000 to prosecute Trump, and witnesses testified Willis and Wade began their relationship prior to his appointment as special counsel.
Both Willis and Wade denied the accusations, and separately testified Willis reimbursed Wade for the travel expenses in undocumented cash transactions.
The appeals court is considering whether Willis should be removed from the case after Judge Scott McAfee previously ruled that her affair with Wade was not sufficient grounds for her disqualification, but that either she or Wade should leave the prosecution. Wade voluntarily resigned after McAfee’s order.
Despite his mixed ruling, which some argued favored Willis, the judge allowed Trump and his co-defendants to appeal his decision.
The appeal was accepted, with the court confirming its first action will occur in December, all but confirming there is no way the Georgia election case will conclude prior to Election Day in November.
In its first legal filing over the appeal, Willis’ office acknowledged McAfee’s ruling was a “boon” to Trump and his allies.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Fani Willis” by Fani Willis and “Donald Trump” is by The White House.
