Georgia appellate court indefinitely suspends the conspiracy to subvert elections lawsuit against Donald Trump
Zachary Cohen, Sara Murray
06/06/2024
CNN —
The Georgia appeals court stopped the case of conspiracy to subvert elections in the case of Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants. It’s a huge win for former President Donald Trump trying to delay legal challenges to 2025 if he isn’t able to defeat them completely.
The latest order that was filed this Wednesday of the Georgia Court of Appeals is the latest sign that the trial of the case at the level of the State in Georgia election subversion case won’t take place prior to the presidential election in 2024. The court announced that the case will remain suspended until a panel of judges decides on the question of whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be removed from office.
This appeals court likely to decide on the issue of disqualification in the month of March 2025. However, it may issue a decision earlier. A number of sources familiar with the matter have told CNN that the timeframe is extremely uncertain.
Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee had initially permitted the proceedings in his courtroom be continued while the appeals court considered an appeal against his decision to permit Willis to stay in the courtroom.
A spokesperson from Willis the office of Willis said that they aren’t able to speak to the appeals court’s decision at this time. The DA may request the appeals court to accelerate an order in this case in the event that it chooses to.
The appeals court’s ruling highlights the numerous successes of President Trump in his long-running plan to make prosecutors defense, challenge them in the public realm and then challenge them in court.
Trump and a few of his co-defendants from the vast racketeering investigation have been working to get Willis exempt from the trial due to a romantic connection she shared together with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to manage the case. The defendants have argued that Willis had financial benefits from her relationship with Wade and his lawyers have claimed arranged for several vacations for the couple.
In March, following an unconstitutional mini-trial, where lawyers on behalf of Trump along with his defendants tried to establish their arguments in court against Willis Wade and Wade, McAfee found there no evidence sufficient to prove Willis was financially benefiting from the partnership.
Willis’s testimony in the telecast proceedings has put her life under the microscope and diverted attention away from the accusations Trump and other people have to face in Georgia.
The judge ultimately ruled Willis could remain in charge of the trial if Wade quit and resigned, which he did.
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead defense counsel in Georgia Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead defense counsel in Georgia, said the decision was appropriate.
“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,” Sadow made a statement in the.
In a brief interview with reporters from the pool on Wednesday evening, Trump was asked if the confidence he had with his lawyers since the verdict of guilty in the criminal trial for hush money at New York. “No, it’s a rigged system and it’s a terrible system actually,” Trump stated.
“I believe that we’re doing well. We had a huge event that happened at Georgia this morning,” the former president stated.
As for the Trump’s case involving classified documents in Florida the federal judge who oversees these proceedings has demonstrated a propensity to allocate large chunks of court time to Trump’s demands to investigate investigators and question his prosecutorial authority.
The judge Aileen Cannon said that on Wednesday that she’s likely to be open to holding an inquiry where Trump might try to place Federal investigators on oath, so his lawyers could ask them questions as well. She also said she’ll allocate an entire day and a quarter during the month of April to hearing arguments regarding whether or not he is a legal attorney.
Similar to the Georgia case like the Georgia case, the Florida documents case does not have a fixed trial date.
This article has been revised to include more details.
CNN’s Devan Cole and Katelyn Polantz helped in this report.