Fani Willis suffers new blow as Georgia court allows Donald Trump's appeal to remove the Fulton County DA from his election fraud case

• Willis has been prosecuting Georgia's election interference case against Trump
• She has been at the center of a scandal over her past relationship 

Willis has courted controversy while prosecuting the county's election interference case against Trump after it was revealed she had a past relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. 

She escaped with just a slap on the wrist after Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee dramatically ruled she could stay on the Trump election interference case if Wade removed himself. 

Trump and eight of his co-defendants charged in the Georgia state court have since urged the appeals court to overturn McAfee's March ruling. 

Now the court has given Trump's appeal the green light to go ahead, but there is not yet a set timeline for when the case will be heard. 

The court's decision to hear the appeal before trial could cause further delays in the case, one of four criminal prosecutions facing Trump as he seeks to unseat Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 5 election. 

Trump has pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of a politically motivated effort to damage his campaign. 

The court's decision to hear the case follows testimony inside McAfee's courtroom, which featured an acknowledgement from Willis and former special prosecutor Nathan Wade that they had a sexual relationship. 

Lawyers for Donald Trump and multiple co-defendants tried to establish that the affair began before Willis brought Wade onto the case and said it posed a conflict of interest. But Willis said the relationship became romantic later.

Following a dramatic evidentiary hearing with claims and counter-claims about lavish trips and cash reimbursements, McAfee gave the state two options: either Willis and her entire team step back from the case, or Wade remove himself from it. 

He slammed Willis for a 'tremendous lapse in judgment' and for acting in an 'unprofessional manner', and found that while there was no actual conflict of interest, there was at least the appearance of one. 

Wade stepped back hours after the judge's decision in March.