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By Kate Plummer
Senior US News Reporter
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has come against two challenges in her efforts to prosecute Donald Trump in Georgia.
Willis, who is leading the case against Trump and 18 others who have been accused of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, has seen two developments that could delay proceedings this week. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, lost the state by some 12,000 votes.
One setback relates to efforts to disqualify Willis from the case. The attorney came under scrutiny after it emerged she had a relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor she hired in the case. It was alleged that Willis and Wade had benefited financially from taxpayers' money. They later admitted they had a relationship, but denied a conflict of interest.
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Following a hearing, Judge Scott McAfee allowed Willis to remain on the case as long as Wade resigned. However, Willis is still facing pressure from critics and last month, the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to hear Trump's appeal of the disqualification ruling.
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On Monday, a tentative October docket date was set for Trump's appeal of the order declining to disqualify Willis. With oral arguments on the issues scheduled for October 4, it is almost certain that Trump's election interference case will not go to trial before the November 5 election.
Meanwhile, Willis faces a challenge from one of the co-defendants in the case, Harrison Floyd, a former leader of Black Voices for Trump, who has successfully brought a case against Willis into the Appeals Court docket. Floyd announced he had secured an appeal on X, formerly Twitter, but did not elaborate what it would entail. Newsweek contacted Floyd on X to comment.
Floyd is facing three charges accusing him of being involved in a harassment campaign targeting an Atlanta election worker and has pleaded not guilty.
Last month, the Georgia Court of Appeals denied an appeal to stop the case.
He has also stated that he wants to recount the 528,777 ballots cast in Fulton County to find evidence that election interference cost Trump the election in the state.
Newsweek also contacted representatives for Willis by email to comment on this story.
Speaking to Newsweek, Scott Lucas, a professor in international politics at University College Dublin, said Floyd was "trying to avoid accountability." He added: "I think it's safe to say that the Trump camp's maneuvers to spin out the Georgia case mean that it's unlikely that one will be heard before the election. I don't think they'll get Fani Willis removed from the case, this is procedural stuff simply aimed at trying to limit his accountability before election day."
In March, McAfee dropped six of the charges against the former president and his allies. In his ruling, McAfee said that the "lack of detail concerning an essential legal element" was "fatal" to the six counts and that it did not give the defendants "enough information to prepare their defenses intelligently."
Last month, Willis asked an appeals court to revive these charges and attorneys weighed in on the possibility that they will be reinstated in interviews with Newsweek.
Update 6/4/24, 6:58 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Scott Lucas.
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