Trump election fraud judge gives Fani Willis two weeks to respond to allegations of affair
A Georgia judge on Thursday gave Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis until Feb. 2 to formally respond to explosive allegations that she has been in an improper romantic relationship with the private lawyer she hired as a special prosecutor overseeing the election fraud case against former President Donald Trump and 14 alleged co-conspirators.
Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee also scheduled a Feb. 15 hearing – likely to be televised – to hear arguments on the issue from Willis and a lawyer for Michael Roman, the Trump-co-defendant and 2020 campaign official who made the allegations last week.
So far, Willis has declined to specifically address the accusations that she was having an affair with private attorney Nathan Wade, and that she hired and paid him more than $650,000 − despite what a defense lawyer said were his lack of qualifications to oversee the high-profile case.
More:Georgia DA Fani Willis breaks silence over Donald Trump case prosecutor
Wade has not spoken publicly about the accusations and did not respond to requests for comment from USA TODAY.
Roman, through his Atlanta lawyer Ashleigh Merchant, contends the allegations are serious enough to have Willis, Wade and the entire Fulton County DA’s office disqualified and thrown off the case.
Willis avoiding “having to directly answer” allegations, lawyer says
Willis did not respond to requests for comment on McAfee’s rulings. But she did file a motion in Wade’s ongoing divorce case, accusing his wife, Joycelyn Wade, of trying to damage her reputation by subpoenaing her in that unrelated matter.
In her motion, Willis argued that Joycelyn Wade conspired with others to “annoy, embarrass and oppress” her by seeking the district attorney’s testimony in the Wades’ divorce proceedings.
“We aim to help Ms. Wade resolve her divorce fairly and privately, but apparently Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis would prefer to use her public platform,” Andrea Dyer Hasting, an attorney for Jocelyn Wade said in a statement. “Clearly, this matter is personal for her.”
Merchant, the lawyer in the election fraud case, accused Willis avoiding key questions about her relationship with the special prosecutor she hired more than two years ago.
“Ms. Willis alleges that her deposition is being sought in an attempt to harass and damage her professional reputation. Why would her truthful testimony risk damaging her reputation?” Merchant told USA TODAY. “We believe her filing in [the divorce case] is just another attempt to avoid having to directly answer the important questions Mr. Roman has raised.”
The Jan. 8 court filing in the election fraud case contains no specific proof of an improper relationship between Willis and Wade. But it does allege that some of that documentation is contained in sealed court records in the divorce case, which Roman and his lawyer are now trying to unseal.
In an interview earlier in the day, Merchant told USA TODAY that she has ample additional evidence to back up the bombshell allegations against Willis and Wade, including financial documentation that the two took luxury trips together that were paid for from funds Willis’s district attorney’s office paid to Wade’s law firm for his work on the sprawling case.
Explosive allegations come three years after launch of Trump probe
Willis launched her investigation in February 2021, and later charged Trump and 18 others of illegally conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Four co-defendants have entered into plea deals with Willis’ office in exchange for their cooperation.
The 14 others charged in the case range from local Georgia officials all the way up to Roman, a Trump campaign official in 2020 and 2016, former Trump lawyer and close associate Rudy Giuliani and Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Since Roman first made his allegations in a Monday Jan. 8 court filing, speculation has been rampant about whether the alleged relationship between Willis and Wade could derail, delay or torpedo the case outright.
In her first and much-anticipated remarks during a guest church sermon on Sunday, Willis admitted being an “imperfect” and even “flawed” human being. She told the congregation shd has been the victim of numerous threats and has received abuse including racial slurs for leading the Trump investigation.
But Willis did not address some of the more salacious accusations in Roman’s motion.
More:Trump Georgia co-defendant alleges DA Fani Willis had improper relationship with prosecutor
Without mentioning him by name, Willis said Wade was not only a “great friend” but an experienced and well-respected lawyer with the “impeccable” credentials needed to be a special prosecutor overseeing the sprawling racketeering case.
In her 35-minute speech at the Big Bethel AME Church, Willis also talked about how she hired two other lawyers – a white man and a white woman – to also help her prosecute Trump and his co-defendants.
Describing each one as a “superstar,” she asked, “Isn’t it them playing the race card when they only question one?”
“The Black man I chose has been a judge more than 10 years, run a private practice more than 20, represented businesses in civil litigation − I ain’t done y’all,” Willis said. “Served as a prosecutor, a criminal defense lawyer, special assistant attorney general.”
Willis’ answers could complicate high-profile Trump election fraud case
Depending on what Willis says, the Feb. 15 public hearing and her Feb. 2 response to the allegations are likely to put in motion a cascade of other developments in the case, according to former federal prosecutor and RICO expert Gene Rossi.
Trump’s own defense lawyer in Georgia, Steven Sadow, said in the most recent court hearing last week that he wants to hear from Willis before deciding whether to have Trump join in the motion to disqualify her, Wade and the entire DA’s office.
If the allegations are true about Willis and Wade, Rossi and other legal experts said that that at best they could significantly complicate one of the most high-profile criminal cases filed against Trump as he seeks re-election.
At worst, they could give Trump, the Republican frontrunner, a political boost as he campaigns once again for the White House as the purported victim of a political “witch hunt” by Democratic adversaries like Willis.
Late Thursday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed to USA TODAY that it is not investigating Willis, as some Trump supporters and conservatives have claimed on social media.
“There is no GBI investigation” into Willis, a spokesperson for the bureau said in a statement. The news was first reported by Newsweek.
But by sidestepping the allegations in her Sunday remarks, Willis “raised more questions than she answered,” said Rossi. “Instead of putting down the shovel, she kept on digging an ever bigger whole for herself.”
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Contributing: Bart Jansen
