An appeals court suspended the case opened in Georgia against former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, where he is accused, along with others, of alleged electoral interference.
The measure was adopted while reviewing a trial judge’s decision to allow Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on the case after her romantic relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade became public. of Fulton County, who has been the subject of a public disqualification battle over the affair interfering in the case.
Trump, 77, is accused in Georgia of participating in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the result of the 2020 election in that state, in which Democrat Joe Biden won by about 12,000 votes. The 45th president in US history and his co-defendants appealed Judge Scott McAfee’s ruling, and the Georgia Court of Appeals announced this week that it would hear the appeal on October 4.
The former president, who seeks to return to the White House in the November elections, may feel victorious in the face of this suspension, according to the criteria of experts.
“It is a great victory for the Trump team, basically this eliminates any chance of that Georgia trial before the elections,” constitutional lawyer and former prosecutor Sabino Jauregui explained to DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS. “There may never be a trial, because the fact that the appeals court accepted the case in the first place and froze any type of future proceedings, means that the appeals court is seriously considering disqualifying prosecutor Fani Willis from the case completely.”
“If they had agreed with the lower judge’s decision, they would have simply rejected the case and not taken it if they thought the judge was acting correctly. By accepting the case, there is a very good possibility that they will want to go much further and completely disqualify Fani Willis,” details Jauregui.
In March, the judge handling the case rejected an attempt by Trump and several other co-defendants to disqualify the district attorney who brought the charges following revelations that she was in a romantic relationship with the man she hired as a special prosecutor whom she accused. he would have paid more than $600,000 and from which he would have allegedly benefited.
Ángel Leal, constitutional lawyer and immigration expert, agrees with Sabino Jauregui after the suspension of the case in Georgia. “The chances of a trial are almost zero (…) Ultimately there was a right to appeal on this motion and the appeals court accepted the appeal. That does not mean that they have made a ruling, but by accepting that motion they indicate that they are taking the issue seriously. In other words, it is an issue that they are considering as an important issue in the course of this litigation.”
“And the reality of all this is that at the end of the day it calls into question the viability of this case against the former president and perhaps with other defendants in the case,” emphasizes Leal.
What does the suspension in Georgia represent?
The measure known this week may mark the fate of the other processes that former President Donald Trump has.
“I think that for the moment he does not have to worry about this case while he is on his electoral campaign. And he still has the sentence left in New York, the federal cases. There is one, the one in Florida, which I think is very unlikely that he will go to trial and the other in Washington DC, also depends on the ruling of the Supreme Court on presidential immunity,” explains Leal. “It is likely that none of these other issues will come to trial before the elections are held, and having already held the elections, if Donald Trump were to win the presidential term, obviously federal cases would no longer be feasible because the Department of Justice would perhaps dismiss cases under your mandate.”
What is the future of the case in Georgia?
Although the suspension for now only delays the case, both experts consulted agree that this litigation may not move forward.
“Many experts think that if Fani Willis is disqualified, that case will die there, because they would have to transfer it to another jurisdiction and have another prosecutor from another county accept that case and have to do their own independent investigation and decide whether or not to proceed with the case.” case. Many people think that if this happens after the elections this case will die,” Sabino details.
“In the event that former President Trump wins, it is difficult for this type of trial to take place while he is in office and it may have to be postponed until his term ends, because otherwise we could face a constitutional crisis. Leal explains. Even with the case of New York, in the event that some type of deprivation of liberty is attempted while the person occupies the position of president. So at the moment the Georgia case is almost impossible to go to trial before the elections and these motions can be very decisive.”
“free” path
The suspension of the case in Georgia is not only a legal victory at this time for Donald Trump, experts also indicate that it is a political triumph. Well, he has one less thing, for now, to worry about and can focus on his campaign for the White House.
“Trump can see (the suspension of the case in Georgia) as a victory because it is one less issue that will take his time in the electoral campaign,” analyzes Leal. “Because as we saw in the New York case, he had to be present and obviously that can affect his campaign because it is time that he has to dedicate to the case as a defendant.”
Sabino Jauregui has a similar position. “By freezing the case it is a tactical and strategic victory for Trump, because, although the case continues to exist, it does not affect him. He doesn’t have to go to trial, he doesn’t have to be in court every day like in New York, he’s going to be able to campaign in peace without the interference of this Georgia trial.”
