Donald Trump’s defense attorneys in the Georgia election interference case asked on Monday to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis and her office from the case, arguing that she “intentionally injected false racial claims” into the court proceedings.
Much of the brief filed with the Georgia appeals court focused on a speech Willis, who is black, gave at a church in January, which Trump’s attorneys argued was a “calculated effort to deliberately ‘play the race card’ to draw public condemnation of the defendant and deflect public attention away from herself.”
In her church remarks, Willis criticized Trump’s legal team for saying she should be disqualified because she had an inappropriate relationship with a prosecutor she hired. She noted that prosecutor Nathan Wade was the only black person she hired in that position.
“Isn’t it the race card that they pull out when they question one thing?” Willis told the parishioners. “Isn’t it the race card that they pull out when they constantly think they need someone from another state or another jurisdiction to tell them how to do what I’ve been doing for almost 30 years?”
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Trump’s attorneys argue in the new filing that Willis’s comments were made “intended to cast a racial slur” and that she “clearly intended for any potential Fulton County juror who heard or read Willis’ racist speech to label the defendant a racist.”
Willis’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Trump defense team’s claims.
Monday’s lawsuit was filed in the Georgia Court of Appeals, which in June halted Fulton County’s lawsuit against Trump and is considering whether Willis should be removed from the case. The first hearing is scheduled for December.
The developments have derailed a lawsuit that was expected to be concluded before this year’s election, in which President Trump is running as the Republican nominee.
The effort to have her removed from the case began in January, when one of Trump’s co-defendants, Mike Roman, was accused of trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, and Willis alleged that her affair with Wade created a conflict of interest in her work. Willis acknowledged the following month that she had a “personal relationship” with Wade, but denied it influenced the lawsuit.
Shortly after Roman filed his complaint, Trump’s legal team made a very similar argument in their filing Monday, claiming that Willis “inappropriately incited racial animosity” during a speech at the church.
The judge overseeing the case ruled in March that there was insufficient evidence to prove Willis had benefited unfairly from Wade’s employment. But he said the relationship created “the appearance of substantial impropriety,” and ordered either Willis or Wade to resign from the case. Wade resigned that day.
