Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) acknowledged developing a “personal relationship” with the top prosecutor in former President Trump’s Georgia criminal case in a new court filing Friday, but said it was no reason for her to step aside.
Trump co-defendant Michael Roman last month first accused Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade of having romantic ties, claiming it rendered the far-reaching Georgia election interference indictment “fatally defective.”
Wills responded to those accusations in court filings on Friday, writing that the motion is “salacious” and “designed to obtain” media attention. She offered a forceful defense of Wade as “a leader more than capable of managing the complexity of this case.”
In an attached affidavit from Wade, he insisted he was no more than friends with district attorney prior to his hiring in 2021.
“In 2022, District Attorney Willis and I developed a personal relationship in addition to our professional association and friendship,” Wade acknowledged.
Roman’s motion asks for the charges against him to be dropped and for Willis, Wade and the Fulton County district attorney’s office to be blocked from continuing to work on the case. The Hill requested comment from his lawyer and Trump’s lawyer, who joined Roman’s motion.
At nearly the same time, Wade’s estranged wife raised the issue in their ongoing divorce proceedings. Lawyers for Joycelyn Wade later filed bank statements appearing to show flights to San Francisco and Miami in the pair’s names while the district attorney’s office investigated Trump and his allies.
In the Friday filing, Willis denied any benefit from her relationship with Wade.
“To be absolutely clear, the personal relationship between Special Prosecutor Wade and District Attorney Willis has never involved direct or indirect financial benefit to District Attorney Willis,” the filing reads.
Wade’s wife subpoenaed Willis for a deposition in the divorce case, but that testimony is indefinitely on hold after the Wades reached a temporary agreement settling the matter. Andrea Hastings, one of Joycelyn Wade’s lawyers, previously accused Willis of “trying to hide under the shield of her position” as district attorney by attempting to get out of testifying.
The revelation threw a curveball into prosecution of the former president by Willis’s office, one of four criminal indictments Trump faces as he campaigns to return to the White House. Trump has called his case “totally compromised.”
Prior to Willis’s response, Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, had publicly questioned on Thursday whether the district attorney would answer to the accusations that she went on personal vacations with Wade and whether Willis would reveal who in the office knew about their relationship.
“Will the response directly answer or dodge these factual questions,” Sadow wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Willis’s acknowledgement of the relationship on Friday was filed the day of the judge’s deadline for the district attorney to respond to Roman’s motion. A hearing is set for Feb. 15, where attorneys for Roman, Trump and at least one other co-defendant will seek Willis’s disqualification.
DEVELOPING
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
