A judge ruled Monday that the divorce case of Nathan Wade, who is the special prosecutor in the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ racketeering and election interference case against former President Donald Trump, be made public.
The ruling from Judge Henry Thompson could spell bad news for Willis, who is already under scrutiny for allegedly being romantically linked to Wade.
Judge Thompson, who is overseeing the divorce case of Wade and his wife Joycelyn Wade, ruled during an emergency hearing in Cobb County that the case be unsealed for public access, the New York Post reported.
A court filing from Joycelyn says Wade paid for Willis to accompany him on at least two trips; one in 2022 to Miami, and one last year to San Francisco. That filing includes credit card statements from a Visa Signature Business account that purports to show Wade booking round-trip flights for himself and Willis.
The credit card statements are significant, since it is seemingly the first hard evidence backing up allegations first made by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman.
In Roman’s filing, which seeks to boot Willis and her entire office from the Trump case, he claims Willis improperly hired her romantic partner, Wade, as special prosecutor in the case, and then financially benefited from the arrangement. Wade has been paid more than $650,000 to work on the case and allegedly used some of that taxpayer money to fund lavish vacations for the pair.
Judge Thompson also decided Monday to pause Willis’ deposition in the divorce case. The DA was subpoenaed to testify in the case earlier this month. The judge, however, did not rule out Willis having to testify, saying he would wait to hear Wade’s testimony before deciding if Willis’ testimony is needed.
Willis has neither directly confirmed nor denied having a romantic relationship with Wade, and her office has previously said the DA will address the allegations in a formal court response. Willis did, though, allude to the allegations when speaking at a church in Georgia last Sunday. The DA, who is black, suggested she was dealing with the allegations because of racism.
“First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now,’” Willis told the congregation. “But no God, isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one. Isn’t it them playing the race card when they constantly think I need someone from someone from some other jurisdiction in some other state to tell me how to do a job I’ve been doing almost 30 years.”
The judge overseeing the Trump election interference case has set a hearing date of Feb. 15, regarding the alleged misconduct, and directed the DA’s office to respond to the motion by Feb. 2.
Thus far, rumors of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation looking into Willis are unfounded; the Bureau confirmed to Newsweek it is not investigating Willis for alleged impropriety.
