This news can be considered nothing but a huge win for Donald Trump.
The court date for arguments to have Fani Willis removed from the Georgia election RICO case has been set, and it means that Trump no longer has to worry about this case heading into a courtroom before the election.
Talking Points…
- Original Judge McAfee order
- Appeal granted
- Analysis
When Trump and his fellow co-defendants tried to have Willis removed, the media immediately tried to turn this into a sexist-racist attack against Willis. However, as the arguments played out, it became clear that something was amiss here. Even Judge McAfee had to admit that things did not quite all appear on the up and up.
After arguments were heard, McAfee ruled:
"[T]he established record now highlights a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team — an appearance that must be removed through the State's selection of one of two options."
The two options were that either Nathan Wade would resign his position or Willis would have to leave the case. Even though McAfee admitted there was a stench of impropriety, he did not believe it enough to have Willis outright removed from the case. McAfee added:
"[T]he Court finds that the record made at the evidentiary hearing established that the District Attorney's prosecution is encumbered by an appearance of impropriety.
"As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed."
After McAfee made his ruling, he did allow for a possible appeal by Trump and his co-defendants. Honestly, it almost seemed as though he was welcoming it. And that is exactly what happened. Since then, the Trump camp has been waiting to hear when arguments would be scheduled for the appeals hearing.
The date for the hearing has finally been set, and the case will not be heard until October. This is devastating for Willis, as all other legal matters in this case have been put on hold until the issue of whether she can remain on the case is settled. With an October 4 hearing date, there is simply no way a decision will be made, and a new court date can be set before the election. Trump's lead defense counsel in the case, Steve Sadow, stated:
"The Georgia Court of Appeals has properly stayed all proceedings against President Trump in the trial court pending its decision on our interlocutory appeal which argues the case should be dismissed and Fulton County DA Willis should be disqualified for her misconduct."
This is a monster win for Trump because, realistically, this was the only case that would move forward before the election. The two Jack Smith cases are currently on hold due to a Supreme Court ruling that should be coming down later this month. If that ruling goes as expected, the court will kick the case back to the lower courts before it is sent back to the Supreme Court for a final ruling, all of which will take several months to play out.
As I have stated many times, the sole goal of Trump's defense team during this process was to delay the cases until after the election so they would not impact the outcome. Trump has done that. The only case that ever made it inside a courtroom was the hush-money case, and even though Trump was found guilty, most expect the verdict to be overturned on appeal. Besides, early polls have shown that the verdict has not had any impact on Trump's support at all.
