Donald Trump's lawyers want Fani Willis to be disqualified from her 2020 election case for using the "race card."

Trump's team argues that Willis tainted the case by smearing Trump and other defendants as racists.

Willis famously invoked race to dismiss accusations from one of Trump's codefendants that she profited from a scandalous affair with another prosecutor whom she hired, Nathan Wade.

Willis' racial comments

Speaking to a black crowd in Atlanta, Willis claimed that her critics were targeting her and Wade because of race. Willis and Wade are both black.

Trump's lawyers dismissed Willis' "disingenuous" argument that her comments were vague, saying she "deliberately chose to ‘play the race’ card" in a “calculated and deliberate plan to prejudice the accused.”

"Willis repeatedly used 'them,' 'they,' and linked these terms to her antagonist: 'white male republicans,'" Trump's lawyers wrote.

Deflecting from scandal

The trial judge, Scott McAfee, declined to disqualify Willis after a disqualification hearing that delved into her affair. McAfee found her racially charged remarks "legally improper" but allowed Willis to remain on the case if Wade stepped aside.

Willis and Wade defended their relationship at a dramatic hearing where they claimed they split their vacation expenses evenly. According to the pair, Willis reimbursed Wade with untraceable cash payments.

“Willis falsely declared that allegations against her stemmed from racism to hide the fact that they were true,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in their filing. “Willis obviously intended that every potential Fulton County juror who heard or read Willis’ racist speech should label the defendants as racists.”

Doubling down

The timing and context of Willis' January speech at a historically black church was significant, Trump's lawyers said. Willis gave the speech at a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

"In today’s political and social climate, a widely disseminated extrajudicial statement by the DA publicly and falsely labeling President Trump and the other defendants as racists in a historic Atlanta Black church celebrating the birthday of MLK, Jr. was unmistakenly designed to heighten public condemnation," Trump's lawyers wrote.

In March, despite the judge's rebuke, Willis told a crowd, "They don’t want me to talk about race, but I’m going to talk about it anyway."

Trump's lawyers said Willis' "repeated public display of racial animus" should be disqualifying.

The trial has already been pushed past the 2024 election by the ongoing disqualification battle. An appeal hearing is set for December 5.