Georgia appeals court cancels arguments in Trump's bid to disqualify Fani Willis

A Georgia appeals court canceled next month’s oral arguments in President-elect Trump’s bid to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) from criminally prosecuting him. 

Monday's one-sentence order from the Georgia Court of Appeals canceling the Dec. 5 argument “until further order of this Court” contained no explanation but comes less than two weeks after Trump’s White House victory. 

Earlier this year, Trump began attempting to derail his criminal prosecution for attempting to overturn his election loss in Georgia in 2020 over Willis’s relationship with a top prosecutor she hired to oversee the case, Nathan Wade.

After a whirlwind hearing earlier this year, the trial judge ruled the case could move forward and that Willis could continue to oversee the prosecution so long as Wade resigned, which he did. 

The appeals court was slated to hear arguments from Trump and eight of his co-defendants that Willis cannot oversee the prosecution.

Willis indicted the former president and more than a dozen of his allies on racketeering and other charges for allegedly entering a months-long, unlawful conspiracy to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in Georgia, one of four criminal cases brought against the former president.

Trump’s legal team believes all his criminal prosecutions must be dismantled now that he is president-elect, but his attorneys hadn’t yet formally mounted such an effort in the Georgia case. 

The appeals court could still issue its ruling without hearing arguments, but before the election, it agreed to hold them at Trump’s request. 

The Hill has reached out to Willis’s office and Trump’s attorney for comment. 

Monday’s cancellation is the last of Trump’s four criminal cases to be halted following his White House victory. 

Courts have put on hold special counsel Jack Smith’s federal election interference case in the nation’s capital and his appeal in the documents case in Florida. Smith is assessing how to wind down the prosecutions before Trump's inauguration and is due to provide an update by Dec. 2.

In New York, Trump’s judge overseeing his hush money criminal case has temporarily frozen it until Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) proposes next steps by Tuesday. Legal observers largely expect next week’s sentencing to be cancelled.