US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, DC on November 13, 2024.
Allison Robbert | AFP | Getty Images
A Georgia appeals court on Monday canceled until further notice oral arguments on an effort by President-elect Donald Trump and other co-defendants to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the criminal election interference prosecution against them.
The Georgia Court of Appeals acted on its own in canceling the arguments scheduled for Dec. 5. The court did not explain its reason for the move.
Three other criminal cases against Trump have been put in limbo since the Republican won the presidential election nearly two weeks ago.
Trump and the other defendants are charged in state court in Atlanta with crimes related to their attempt to undo his 2020 election loss in Georgia to President Joe Biden.
Earlier this year, the judge in the case, Scott McAfee, allowed DA Willis to remain on the case despite revelations that she had had a romantic relationship with a top prosecutor assigned to the case.
Trump and other defendants had appealed that ruling, and the Court of Appeals in June halted proceedings in the case pending the outcome of that effort.
A New York state judge in Manhattan last week delayed until Tuesday ruling on whether to toss out guilty verdicts against Trump in his criminal hush money case there. The Manhattan DA’s office had asked the judge for the delay, citing the need to evaluate how Trump’s electoral win affects the case, where he is awaiting sentencing.
The U.S. Department of Justice is expected to dismiss two other criminal cases against Trump because of his election.
In one of those cases, Trump is charged in Washington, D.C., federal court with crimes related to trying to overturn Biden’s 2020 win in the national election. The judge in that case has paused proceedings in the case at the request of the top prosecutor, special counsel Jack Smith.
In the second case, Trump had been charged in Florida federal court with crimes connected to his retaining classified government documents after leaving the White House in January 2021 and with obstructing efforts by government officials to recover those records.
The Florida case was dismissed earlier this year by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who had been nominated to her seat by Trump.
Smith is appealing Cannon’s decision. But last week he asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend proceedings in that case, citing Trump’s election victory. That federal appeals court granted Smith’s request.
