A top prosecutor in Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis’ case against former President Donald Trump admitted that they developed a “personal relationship” after he joined her team – but both he and Willis denied that it created a conflict of interest .
Nathan Wade, the prosecutor, also denied allegations in an affidavit filed Friday that he or Willis benefited financially from the romantic relationship, as one of Trump’s co-defendants had alleged.
At the same trial, Willis rejected the defendants’ arguments that their relationship justified dismissing the charges or excluding either of them from trial.
She called the attacks on Wade “factually inaccurate, unfounded and malicious.”
Willis and Wade “have been professional associates and friends since 2019,” the prosecutor said in the Fulton County Superior Court filing. But they had “no personal relationship” in November 2021, when Wade became special prosecutor in the case, Willis said.
Later Friday, Trump seized on prosecutors’ admission.
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that Willis’ “sexual relationship” with Wade meant the case against him was “totally discredited.”
But the district attorney said in her filing that the defendants in the case had presented no evidence that their personal relationship with Wade, which began in 2022, interfered with their “exercise of any prosecutorial discretion.”
She noted that Wade was paid at a “greatly reduced hourly rate” compared to the Atlanta-area legal market and that his invoices were approved by Fulton County’s chief financial officer.
Willis asked Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee to reject a motion from Trump co-defendant Michael Roman that seeks to dismiss the charges and bar her and Wade from the matter. She also called for a hearing on the allegations scheduled for February 15 to be canceled.
Trump defense attorney Steve Sadow criticized Willis’s record in a statement to NBC News, accusing her of asking the court to “turn a blind eye to her alleged personal and financial misconduct.”
Sadow said the district attorney’s response lacked transparency and ignored important details, including “the so-called ‘coincidence’ that Wade filed for divorce the day after he was hired by the district attorney!”
It remains to be seen whether a judge will conclude that Willis’ relationship with Wade presents a conflict that will force one or both of them to recuse themselves from prosecution.
But even before Friday, prosecutors were facing criticism that their suspected relationship with him could undermine public trust in them and their case against the former president and his alleged co-conspirators.
Trump, Roman and more than a dozen others were charged last year with conspiracy in connection with their efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 election loss in Georgia to President Joe Biden.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 13 criminal charges in the case.
Roman attempted to have his charges dismissed in mid-January on the grounds that Willis and Wade “conducted an inappropriate, secret personal relationship” during the trial.
The Jan. 8 filing accused them of “personally profiting from this prosecution at the expense of Fulton County” and alleged that Wade had received nearly $1 million in legal fees since his appointment as special prosecutor, despite working for the job is not qualified.
The filing cited Wade’s divorce proceedings, which were under seal at the time, and said they showed him and Willis traveling to “vacation destinations” together and buying cruise tickets.
Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, also cited unnamed sources saying Wade and Willis began dating before the election process began.
Trump’s lawyers in late January joined Roman’s request to disqualify Willis and Wade.
Wade’s affidavit refuted these allegations.
“There was no personal relationship between District Attorney Willis and me prior to or at the time of my appointment as special prosecutor in 2021,” Wade wrote.
“I have no financial interest in the outcome of the 2020 election interference case or in the conviction of any defendant,” he wrote. “No monies paid to me as compensation for my role as special prosecutor were disclosed to or made available to District Attorney Willis.”
Willis “received no funds or personal financial gain from my position as special prosecutor,” he wrote.
Wade also denied ever living with Willis or sharing household expenses with her.
“The district attorney and I are both financially independent professionals; the costs of personal travel were divided approximately equally between us,” he wrote.
“Sometimes I used my personal funds to organize and purchase trips for District Attorney Willis and myself. At other times, District Attorney Willis used her personal funds to arrange and purchase trips for her and me.”
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2024-02-02 21:12:05
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