A Georgia court of appeals has halted Donald Trump’s criminal case in Fulton County pending resolution of an appeal of the disqualification ruling that allowed District Attorney Fani Willis to stay on the case.
The Georgia Court of Appeals’ order on Wednesday prevents Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee from moving forward with pretrial motions as he had planned while the appeal is pending.
While it was already unlikely that the case would go to trial before the November general election, when Trump is expected to be the Republican nominee for president, this makes that even more certain.
“The proceedings below in the Superior Court of Fulton County are hereby stayed pending the outcome of these appeals,” the order states, as it relates to the eight defendants who appealed the order.
The court previously set a tentative Oct. 4 date for oral arguments on the appeal.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s office declined to comment on Wednesday’s development.
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In a statement to ABC News, the lawyer for defendant Mike Roman, who first filed the disqualification motion and unearthed the relationship between Willis and Wade, said she is “happy.”
“We are happy that the Court of Appeals agrees with us that this issue is so important to this entire case that it decided to stop the case from moving forward in the trial court until the issue of whether or not Willis must be removed from the case can be decided.
“Mr. Roman is innocent and we hope that this misuse of the justice system will finally come to an end when a disinterested prosecutor takes over the case,” Ashleigh Merchant noted in a statement.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
The former president has blasted the district attorney’s investigation as being politically motivated.
In a statement, Trump’s attorney in Georgia said the court “properly” stayed the case.
“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,” his attorney Steve Sadow said.
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