Trump wins further delay in another one of his criminal cases — this time in Georgia

A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday delayed Donald Trump’s criminal case in that state, agreeing to hear an appeal from the former president that may foreclose a trial taking place this year.

For Trump, it’s the latest in a spate of good legal news, coming less than 24 hours after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon indefinitely postponed his federal trial in Florida on charges of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office.

In the Georgia case, Trump and more than a dozen Republican allies are accused of a racketeering conspiracy to subvert Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state. There is no set trial date, and proceedings were derailed in recent months over allegations that the lead prosecutor, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, had committed ethical lapses stemming from a romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she hired.

After the trial judge, Scott McAfee, rejected a bid to kick Willis off the case, Trump and his co-defendants sought permission to appeal that ruling. In a terse order on Wednesday, a Georgia appeals court granted the request to hear the appeal.

Even if the appeals court ultimately allows Willis to remain on the case, the decision to hear the appeal will likely delay the proceedings for months.

Trump and his co-defendants have alleged that Willis had a financial conflict of interest because she was dating special prosecutor Nathan Wade and taking lavish vacations with him at the same time that her office was paying him on a contract basis to run the Trump case. Wade resigned from the case in March after McAfee ruled that the relationship created the “appearance of conflict” but that Willis could remain on the case if Wade stepped down.

Trump is currently on trial in Manhattan on charges that he orchestrated a scheme to cover up an affair with a porn star to influence the 2016 election. But the Georgia decision ensures that Trump’s other three criminal cases remain in limbo and are increasingly unlikely to reach a verdict before voters cast ballots this fall.

In addition to the Florida case, Trump’s other federal criminal case — on charges that he criminally conspired to subvert the 2020 election — is also teetering as the Supreme Court considers whether to declare him immune from the charges altogether. A trial this year is still possible if the justices do not grant Trump the sweeping presidential immunity he says should block the prosecution.

But the legal snags have raised the odds that Trump might never face a jury in either of the two federal cases, both of which were brought by special counsel Jack Smith. If Trump wins the election later this year and the two federal cases remain pending, he is all but certain to order the Justice Department to unravel them. And his lawyers have foreshadowed efforts to postpone the Georgia trial during a potential presidency, even if it is allowed to proceed by the state courts.

McAfee has said that for practical reasons at least two trials would be required in the case to deal with the sprawling roster of 15 defendants. Trump and 18 others were charged in the indictment Willis obtained last August, but four of the defendants pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Prosecutors have asked that Trump be tried alongside all other defendants, but McAfee hasn’t ruled on that request.