An appeals court in Georgia has agreed to take up former President Donald Trump's appeal of the ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to stay on as the prosecutor in the election interference case against him.

What You Need To Know

  • An appeals court will review a lower court's decision to allow DA Fani Willis to remain on the Georgia election case against Donald Trump

  • Trump and 18 other individuals were charged in a sweeping indictment accusing them of orchestrating a criminal conspiracy to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state in 2020; four have pleaded guilty and taken deals with prosecutors, the rest have pleaded not guilty

  • Trump and the other defendants sought to have Willis removed from the case due to what they called an improper relationship between the prosecutor special counsel Nathan Wade

  • A lower court judge in March found no conflict of interest, but said Wade or Willis would have to leave the case; Wade resigned shortly after the judge's ruling came down

  • The decision could delay the start of the case, which would be a victory for Trump, who has sought to delay the criminal prosecutions against him until after the presidential election in November

The decision could delay the start of the case, which would be a victory for Trump. The ex-president, who is in the midst of his third White House bid, has sought to delay the criminal prosecutions against him until after the presidential election in November. A start date for the Georgia trial has not yet been set.

"President Trump looks forward to presenting interlocutory arguments to the Georgia Court of Appeals as to why the case should be dismissed and Fulton County DA Willis should be disqualified for her misconduct in this unjustified, unwarranted political persecution," said Trump defense attorney Steven Sadow in a statement.

Of the four criminal cases against Trump, only one is currently underway: a New York trial related to alleged hush money payments made to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Trump faces 91 felony counts across four separate criminal cases. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges in each case and denied wrongdoing. The Georgia decision comes one day after a federal judge in Florida indefinitely postponed the case accusing Trump of mishandling classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and hampering the government's efforts to retrieve them. 

Trump and 18 other individuals were charged in a sweeping indictment accusing them of orchestrating a criminal conspiracy to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state in 2020. Biden carried the state by more than 11,000 votes, the first Democrat to win Georgia since Bill Clinton in 1992. 

All of the defendants in the case were charged under Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law. Four of the defendants pleaded guilty and have committed to working with prosecutors. The others have pleaded not guilty.

Trump and the other defendants sought to have Willis removed from the case due to what they called an improper relationship between the prosecutor special counsel Nathan Wade. In March, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee found that a conflict of interest did not exist, but the relationship caused the case to be "encumbered by an appearance of impropriety" and decided that one of the two must step aside from the case. Wade resigned shortly after McAfee's decision was handed down.

Willis and Wade both acknowledged they had a romantic relationship, but denied any impropriety. They testified that their relationship ended last year and they split costs evenly for things like travel.