DA's Shocking Revelation: Trump Trial Before Election Day? The Inside Scoop!

District Attorney Fani Willis, in her first public remarks since avoiding disqualification in the Georgia election fraud prosecution of Donald Trump, expressed readiness to bring the former president and 14 co-defendants to trial well before the November 5 election.

In a weekend interview with CNN, Willis asserted, "The train is coming."

However, prominent Georgia defense lawyer Ashleigh Merchant, who first disclosed Willis' romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade in a bombshell January 8 court filing, cautioned against undue haste.

"We're prepared," Merchant said on Monday in response to Willis' comments at a charity Easter egg hunt in Atlanta.

Merchant, who represents one of Trump's 14 co-defendants, predicted that an appeal of the judge's ruling rejecting Willis' disqualification would likely extend the trial past the November election, where Trump is expected to face President Joe Biden. She represents Trump 2020 campaign official Michael Roman, charged with conspiring with local Trump supporters in Georgia and Washington, D.C., to overturn the election Trump lost to Biden in Georgia in 2020.

In a January 8 court motion, Roman and Merchant alleged that Willis had a conflict of interest by hiring Wade to oversee the case and having an affair with him. 

They also alleged Willis committed financial misconduct by vacationing with Wade using some of the more than $650,000 he earned overseeing the case.

Both Willis and Wade denied the allegations, stating they did nothing wrong. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled on March 15 that Willis could remain in charge of the election fraud case only if Wade stepped down, which he did hours later.

McAfee subsequently permitted Trump and at least eight other co-defendants to file an emergency appeal of his ruling to the Georgia state Court of Appeals. 

The defense lawyers, including Merchant and Steven Sadow for Trump, not only seek Willis and her entire office's removal from the case but also the dismissal of charges, as some of them requested in their initial court motions in January.

In an exclusive interview with CNN on Saturday, Willis acknowledged that legal wrangling over the motion to disqualify her had clouded the election racketeering case against Trump and others for more than two months. 

McAfee held nearly three full days of evidentiary hearings on the issues before ruling that defense lawyers had failed to prove Willis had a conflict of interest. 

Despite criticizing Willis for creating an "appearance of impropriety" due to her romantic relationship with Wade, McAfee allowed the case to move forward.

Willis and her team have continued working on the case, and no trial date has been set.

Lawyers for Trump and the other defendants have 10 days from McAfee's ruling to file an appeal. 

The Georgia appellate court then has 45 days to decide whether to hear the appeal.

Merchant, speaking on Fox News, said the Georgia Court of Appeals could rule that Willis is disqualified, requiring a new prosecutor or prosecutor's office to step in. 

She also suggested that the appellate process, which typically takes about six months, could delay the trial beyond the election.

Cunningham, a law and ethics professor at Georgia State University College of Law, told USA TODAY that there’s a chance the Court of Appeals will not take the case, given its tendency to defer to the initial judge's judgment. 

Regardless, he said, the losing party will likely appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, further delaying a trial before Election Day.