Attorney Ashleigh Merchant has proposed new strategies to remove DA Fani Willis from the Georgia election fraud case. She represents one of the co-defendants in the case, which includes Donald Trump.
The prosecution, which charges the ex-president and eighteen others in a 41-count indictment for allegedly attempting to reverse his 2020 Georgia election defeat, may continue under the supervision of Fulton County district attorney Willis, according to a ruling.
There are thirteen counts against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, but he has pled not guilty on all of them and has maintained throughout that he is the victim of a political witch hunt.
Reports show Judge Scott McAfee did not disqualify Willis from the case after an ethics hearing. The decision followed claims by Michael Roman, a former Trump staffer and co-defendant, that Willis was romantically involved with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she appointed for the high-profile case, and that the two of them profited from public funds.
She approved Wade’s resignation when McAfee offered her the choice to withdraw herself or him from the case.
Trump’s attorneys said they would appeal the ruling.
Merchant, speaking to CNN, said that she was appealing the judgment on behalf of her client on the grounds that there was convincing proof of forensic misconduct in Willis’ actions throughout the investigation and in her connection with Wade.
Merchant said that they saw a lot of behavior that cast serious doubt on their ethics. A prosecutor who is free from bias should review the case. However, that was not the case here.
Trump has requested an appeal, and McAfee has ten days from Friday to reply. The next step is for the Georgia Court of Appeal to decide within 45 days whether or not to accept the case.
Last week, Steve Sadow, who is leading Trump’s defense team in this matter, said that they would exhaust all legal avenues in their quest to dismiss the charges against their client. Sadow believes that the charges against Trump were unwarranted.
