Trump, Giuliani, RICO co-defendants ask to appeal ruling allowing Fani Willis to remain on the Georgia case

On Monday, Donald Trump and his eight Georgia co-defendants including Rudy Giuliani filed a joint motion calling on Judge Scott McAfee to grant a Certificate of Immediate Review of his order that allowed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case to the Georgia Court of Appeals.

McAfee had ruled that Willis could stay so long as her former lover and lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade, resigned, which he did. The defendants argued that this was not good enough and called for the DA's removal in an order filed on Monday.

"The March 15 Order is of exceptionally great importance to this case, substantially impacting Defendants' rights to due process," the defense team wrote. "Additionally, given the lack of guidance from the appellate courts on key issues, and the fact that any errors in the March 15 Order could be structural errors that would necessitate retrial(s), the grant of a certificate of immediate review is both prudent and warranted."

The defendants' lawyers cited McAfee's March 15 order's findings that Willis' actions "created an appearance of impropriety and an 'odor of mendacity' that lingers in this case, as well as the continuing possibility that 'an outsider could reasonably think that District Attorney Willis is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences.'

They went on to argue that the case law warrants "dismissal of the case, or at the very least, the disqualification of the District Attorney and her entire office," adding that "the resignation of Mr. Wade is insufficient to cure the appearance of impropriety the Court has determined exists.

"Given these facts and the current state of the case law," the attorneys explained, "the Court of Appeals should speak definitively to this outcome-determinative issue now."

In his March 15 order, McAfee argued that while the allegations and evidence were "legally insufficient to support a finding of an actual conflict of interest," the "appearance of impropriety remains and must be handled ... before the prosecution can proceed."