Georgia appeals court indefinitely halts election sabotage conspiracy case against Donald Trump

(CNN) — A Georgia appeals court put the election sabotage conspiracy case against former President Donald Trump and several of his co-defendants on hold until a panel of judges decides whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified, according to a new order filed Wednesday.

The new order filed Wednesday by the Georgia Court of Appeals is the latest indication that a trial in Georgia’s statewide election sabotage case will not take place before the 2024 presidential election.

The appeals court is expected to rule on the disqualification issue in March 2025, though it could rule earlier. Multiple sources close to the case have told CNN that the timeline remains very uncertain.

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee initially allowed the proceedings to continue in his courtroom while the court considered an appeal of his decision to allow Willis to remain in the case.

A spokesperson for Willis’ office said they could not comment on the appeals court order at this time.

The appeals court’s ruling underscores Trump’s series of successes in his longstanding strategy of putting prosecutors on the defensive, attacking them in the public sphere and challenging them in court.

Trump and some of his co-defendants in the sweeping racketeering case have sought to disqualify Willis because she had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor they hired to help handle the case. The defendants argued that Willis benefited financially from the relationship with Wade, with defense lawyers saying she covered several vacations for the couple.

In March, following a mini-trial in which lawyers for Trump and his co-defendants attempted to prove their case against Willis and Wade, McAfee found there was not enough evidence to convincingly prove that Willis benefited financially from the relationship.

Willis’ testimony in the televised trial brought her personal life into the spotlight, distracting discussion from the allegations against Trump and others in Georgia.

The judge ultimately decided that Willis would be allowed to continue leading the case if Wade resigned, which he subsequently did.

Meanwhile, in the classified Trump documents case in Florida, the federal judge overseeing those proceedings has tended to devote large amounts of court time to Trump’s requests to question the authority of investigators and his prosecutors.

That judge, Eileen Cannon, indicated Wednesday that she was still open to holding a hearing in which Trump might try to have federal investigators put under oath so his lawyers can question him, and said she would spend a day and a half this month hearing arguments on the legitimacy of his prosecutors.

Like the Georgia case, the Florida documents do not list a scheduled hearing date for the case.

CNN’s Devon Cole and Kaitlin Polantz contributed to this report.