The criminal trial proceedings in Georgia against former US President Donald Trump for allegations of subverting the 2020 election have been halted by a state appeals court as it reviews appeals. The delay comes one month after Trump and 18 others were charged in August with attempting to overturn results in the southeastern state.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and had described them as being politically motivated to derail his possible return to the White House. The Georgia Court of Appeals issued the order on Wednesday, upon hearing that a tentative October date had been set for the hearing of the appeals, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Trump and his co-defendants had filed complaints against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade, arguing that such information compromises her neutrality. In their arguments, the defense says Willis was in a romantic relationship with Wade and had appointed him as a special prosecutor for the case. His lawyers claim that Willis received funds and financial gifts that Wade, who claimed to have paid for several vacations between the two, financed from her relationship with Wade.
This ruling further solidifies that a Georgia election subversion case will not go to trial before the 2024 presidential election, in which Trump is the presumptive 2024 Republican nomineeThe case will be Trump's fourth criminal trial, with two cases emanating from indictments by the US Justice Department and another in New York state.
The case in Georgia will be Trump's fourth criminal trial. Two of the cases are related to indictments from the Justice Department, and the third case is in New York state.
Last week, just one week after Trump made history by becoming the first US president convicted in a criminal trial, a New York jury convicted Trump on all 34 counts of felony falsification of business records related to hush money payments to a porn star in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
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