An appeals court in Georgia halted criminal trial proceedings in former US President Donald Trump’s 2020 election subversion case while it reviews appeals.

Trump and 18 others were indicted in August over alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the southeastern US state.

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Trump has pleaded not guilty and criticized the cases against him as part of a politically motivated attempt to keep him from recapturing the White House.

The order from the Georgia Court of Appeals was issued on Wednesday after the court earlier this week set a tentative October hearing date for the appeal, Xinhua news agency reported.

Trump and several co-defendants in the case have argued that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ relationship with then-special prosecutor Nathan Wade caused a conflict of interest.

Trump and some of his co-defendants in the sprawling racketeering case have been trying to get Willis disqualified from the case because of a romantic relationship she had with Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to help handle the case, reported CNN, adding that the defendants argued that Willis financially benefited from the relationship with Wade, who defence attorneys say covered several vacations for the pair.

CNN pointed out that the new order is the latest indication that a trial in the state-level Georgia election subversion case will not occur before the 2024 presidential election.

Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive 2024 presidential nominee, has been indicted in four criminal cases — two by the US Justice Department, and two by state prosecutors in New York and Georgia, separately. The Georgia case is the fourth criminal case brought against Trump.

The Georgia Court of Appeals’ order came just days after Trump was found guilty in the first criminal trial of a former president in US history.

Trump was convicted of felony crimes by a jury in New York last week on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a bid to hide hush money payment to a porn star in 2016, shortly before the presidential election.