Seventeen ethics experts, former prosecutors and defense attorneys file a legal brief in the Georgia election interference case brought against former President Donald Trump and 18 others in which they argue that a sexual relationship between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and lead prosecutor Nathan Wade does not constitute an ethical conflict in the case. Lawyers for Trump, meanwhile, reiterated their position Wednesday to Judge Scott McAfee that Willis should be disqualified from handling the case. In New York, meanwhile, Judge Arthur Engoron gives lawyers for the state of New York and the defense in the $370 million civil financial fraud trial until 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday to detail what they know about former Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg’s apparent negotiations to plead guilty to committing perjury during the trial. Here are the latest legal developments surrounding the former president looking to be reelected in 2024.

Georgia election interference

Trump says Willis should be disqualified from Georgia case over relationship with prosecutor. Ethics experts disagree.

Key players: Fulton County District Attorney , Judge , lead prosecutor , Trump co-defendant

• Seventeen ethics experts, former prosecutors and defense attorneys filed a brief late Monday in which they argued that Willis’ alleged romantic relationship with Wade should not disqualify her from proceeding with the prosecution of Trump and the others charged in connection with their efforts to unlawfully overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, .

• In their brief, the experts wrote: “Disqualifying conflicts occur when a prosecutor’s previous representation of a defendant gives the prosecutor forbidden access to confidential information about the defendant or a conflict otherwise directly impacts fairness and due process owed a defendant. That kind of conflict is not at issue here.”

• Roman, Trump and three other defendants in the case have argued that Willis’s relationship with Wade constitutes a conflict of interest and that she should be removed from the case.

• On Wednesday, to McAfee, while adding that comments Willis made at an Atlanta church, in which she implied that racism was behind the attacks made against her and Wade, were “improper.”

• “The State knows that improper extrajudicial public comments by a prosecutor in the State of Georgia may be dealt with by disqualification,” Trump’s lawyers wrote to McAfee.

• In a filing to McAfee last week, Willis acknowledged her relationship with Wade, but since the two do not share finances, do not cohabitate, and began their relationship after Willis had hired him to lead the case against Trump and the other co-defendants.

• McAfee has scheduled a hearing on the matter on Feb. 15.

Why it matters: McAfee will have to ultimately decide whether Willis’ romantic relationship has any bearing on a trial that will focus on to try to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

New York financial fraud

Judge gives lawyers Wednesday deadline to explain whether key Trump witness committed perjury

Key players: Judge Arthur Engoron, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, New York Attorney General Letitia James

• Engoron set a Wednesday deadline of 5 p.m. ET for lawyers in the case to detail their knowledge of a New York Times report that Weisselberg had entered into negotiations with the Manhattan district attorney to plead guilty to committing perjury on the witness stand during Trump’s financial fraud trial, Bloomberg reported.

• “I of course want to know whether Mr. Weisselberg is now changing his tune, and whether he is admitting he lied under oath in my courtroom at this trial. Although the [New York] Times article focuses on the size of the Trump Tower penthouse, his testimony on other topics could also be called into question,” Engoron wrote in a Monday email to the trial lawyers.

• Weisselberg had testified on behalf of Trump and the other defendants that he “never focused” on the valuation of Trump’s triplex apartment in Trump Tower. But that testimony was shown to be false.

• Engoron said in his email that he may find that none of Weisselberg’s testimony during the case had been credible.

• Weisselberg’s apparent perjury negotiations are one possible reason Engoron has delayed issuing his final verdict in the case.

Why it matters: Letitia James is asking Engoron to fine the defendants $370 million in damages and issue a ban on the Trump Organization doing business in the state. Weisselberg, who has already served prison time for tax fraud, was a key defense witness. If he pleads guilty to having lied under oath, it will further damage Trump’s case.

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Tuesday, February 6

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A three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rules unanimously that presidential immunity does not protect Donald Trump from being prosecuted for his attempts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election to Joe Biden. Yet at the same time, the former president succeeds in delaying the start of his federal election interference trial in the hopes of pushing an ultimate verdict after the 2024 election. Here are the latest legal developments facing the former president seeking to be reelected in 2024.

Jan. 6 election interference

Appeals court rejects Trump’s presidential immunity arguments

Key players: Judge Tanya Chutkan, Judges Florence Pan, J. Michelle Childs and Karen Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, United States Supreme Court

• A three-judge panel issued a unanimous ruling Tuesday that presidential immunity does not protect Trump from being prosecuted for attempting to overturn his loss in the 2020 election, Politico reported.

• “We cannot accept former President Trump’s claim that a President has unbounded authority to commit crimes that would neutralize the most fundamental check on executive power,” Pan, Childs and Henderson wrote in their opinion.

• But the court took 28 days after hearing oral arguments in the case to come to its verdict, and also gave Trump’s lawyers until Feb. 12 to file an emergency appeal of the decision with the United States Supreme Court before it will send the case back to Chutkan.

• If Trump files an appeal with the Supreme Court, as is expected, the appeals court decision will not go into effect until after the high court makes a ruling.

• The Supreme Court has ruled that immunity protects sitting presidents from civil lawsuits, but the appeals court ruled that did not apply to former presidents and that the gravity of the crimes Trump is accused of committing is too great to ignore.

• The Supreme Court may not ultimately agree to hear Trump’s appeal, however, and could kick the case back to Chutkan by the end of month. In that event, the trial could still begin later this spring.

• Trump could also seek to further delay the trial by asking the full 11-judge court of appeals to review the panel’s ruling. But Tuesday’s ruling made clear that the court would not prevent the return of the case to Chutkan short of the full appeals court agreeing to rehear the presidential immunity question.

• Chutkan has already been forced to postpone the March 4 start date of the trial, and has dropped the case from the court’s public calendar.

Why it matters: If Trump does succeed in pushing the trial past the election, voters may not have the opportunity to hear the evidence presented in court, or to have a verdict factor into their decision on who to vote for in 2024. Polls have shown consistently that were Trump to be convicted by a jury of felony offenses, many Americans would not vote for him.