FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Former President Donald Trump and seven other defendants in Georgia's 2020 election interference case have filed a motion to appeal a judge's decision to allow Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case.
This comes after Friday's ruling on whether to disqualify Willis from the case. Judge Scott McAfee said he did not find that Willis' relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade amounted to a conflict of interest that should disqualify her from the case, but did find that the relationship created an "appearance of impropriety."
Judge McAfee said that appearance could be resolved -- and Willis and the remainder of her staff could continue prosecuting the case -- if Wade stepped down. Wade resigned that same day, allowing Willis to remain on the case.
But Monday, a team of defense attorneys filed paperwork with the court arguing the ruling did not go far enough. They claim that "case law requires dismissal of the case, or at the very least, the disqualification of the District Attorney and her entire office."
In their motion, the defense team asked Judge McAfee to grant them a "certificate of immediate review" -- a procedural permission slip to take their argument immediately to Georgia's appellate court.
Legal experts have told 11Alive that the judge has wide discretion over whether to grant that certificate or not. If he doesn't, the defense team may have to wait until after a verdict is reached in the case to appeal this issue. If the certificate is granted, the legal experts have said, it would halt the progress of the case until the appeals court reaches a decision on the disqualification question.
Trump's lead defense attorney, Steve Sadow, called for the opportunity to immediately appeal the decision.
"The motion notes that the Court found that Willis' actions created an appearance of impropriety and an 'odor of mendacity' that lingers in this case, but it nonetheless refused to dismiss the case or disqualify her," Sadow said.
He said the motion also notes that the court found Georgia case law to lack controlling precedent to allow for a standard to disqualify Willis based on forensic misconduct.
"For these reasons among others, the Court's Order is ripe for pretrial appellate review," Sadow said in his statement to 11Alive.
11Alive has also reached out to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office for a statement and is awaiting a response.