The entire Fulton County Superior Court bench has been recused from ruling on former President Donald Trump‘s motion to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office from digging deeper into claims he tried to overturn the 2020 election results.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville ruled on Thursday no judges from Fulton County could hear Trump’s motion to disqualify Willis, as well as one asking that the special grand jury report be tossed out. Glanville’s decision was made public on Friday.
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Glanville, the chief judge in Fulton County’s superior court, reassigned the case to Georgia’s 7th Judicial Administrative District “for the appointment of a judge who is not a member of the district to preside over the case.”
Georgia’s 7th District covers 14 counties in northwest Georgia and is based in Cartersville.
In court reports, Trump’s lawyers claimed Willis had a conflict of interest and should be removed from the case because she is allegedly using it to bring in donations for her reelection campaign. Trump’s camp said the fundraising violates professional ethics and argued it should lead to her dismissal from the case. They also had a problem with Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversaw the special grand jury.
Willis has been investigating whether Trump and his allies broke any laws in their attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to President Joe Biden.
Separately, the Georgia Supreme Court on Monday rejected a similar request by Trump and his attorneys to bar Willis from prosecuting him, as well as a request that a special grand jury report that is part of the investigation be tossed.
In its five-page ruling, the state’s highest court declined to overstep the authority of the lower court and claimed Trump “makes no showing that he has been prevented fair access to the ordinary channels.” The justices also slammed his legal filing, claiming it lacked “the facts or the law necessary to mandate Willis’s disqualification by this Court at this time on this record.”
Willis opened her investigation into Trump shortly after the former president called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021 and asked him to “find” the votes needed to overturn his loss to Biden.
A special grand jury was seated in May 2022 and heard from 75 witnesses and submitted a report with recommendations for Willis. The panel’s foreperson said the special grand jury recommended charging several people but did not name them. Willis has indicated she will bring charges against Trump at the beginning of August.
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Trump has rejected allegations he did anything wrong and has called the investigation into him a witch hunt.
