Fani Willis Could Face 'Unusual' Appeal in Trump's Georgia Case: Attorney

Fani Willis could face an appeal over the decision to allow her to continue prosecuting Donald Trump in his Georgia election interference case.

Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, was handed a win last week amid her prosecution of the former president and 18 others accused in a 41-count indictment of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.

Following an ethics hearing, Judge Scott McAfee Friday announced he wasn't disqualifying Willis from the case following accusations by former Trump staffer and co-defendant Michael Roman that she was having an affair with Nathan Wade—a special prosecutor she hired in the high-profile case—and that the pair benefited from taxpayers money. He gave her the option of removing herself or Wade, a special prosecutor she hired for the trial so she accepted Wade's resignation.

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges against him and has repeatedly said the case is part of a political witch hunt. Newsweek contacted Willis via LinkedIn to comment on this story Friday.

But writing on her Substack blog, attorney and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said Trump's lawyers might appeal the decision to allow Willis to remain on the case and that if the appeal is permitted, that would be "unusual."

She wrote: "An attempt at appealing is almost certain to follow. Trump's lawyer Steve Sadow has promised to, and it's possible that the DA's office might seek to as well. The question is whether the Georgia courts will permit an unusual interlocutory appeal—one that occurs before trial—or consign this issue to post-trial motions if there is a conviction."

Vance was the first female U.S. attorney nominated by then-President Barack Obama.

Both sides of the case have until March 25 to appeal McAfee's ruling. Under state law, either party would have to first ask McAfee permission to appeal his ruling, and the judge would have to respond in the next 10 days. That window to request an appeal starts on Saturday.

If McAfee grants review of his ruling, the party asking for an appeal would then be given another 10 days to make a request to the Georgia Court of Appeals. The state's appeals court would have 45 days to make a decision on whether to take the case.

Vance continued: "Under Georgia law, it's up to the trial judge to issue a certificate of appealability ('COA') within 10 days of his ruling for either party to take it to the court of appeals. And then, the court of appeals would also have to agree to hear the case before an interlocutory appeal would take place. So we'll watch carefully this week for the parties to request a COA and for Judge McAfee's ruling. Although not an indication for certain, he dropped a footnote in his opinion dismissing six counts in the indictment last week saying he'd issue a COA if the DA wanted to appeal. He didn't do so when he decided the disqualification motion, so there are at least a few tea leaves to be read here."

In a post on X, formerly Twitter on Sunday, Trump lawyer Steve Sadow indicated that the next legal step in an effort to disqualify Willis will be to ask the court to permit a pretrial appeal of McAfee's order.

Meanwhile, he told Newsweek via email on Friday: "While respecting the Court's decision, we believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade, including... testifying untruthfully about when their personal relationship began. We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place."