Atlanta prosecutor faces turmoil in Trump investigation
Nearly three years after she began investigating former President Donald J. Trump and his allies, Fani T. Willis is facing the biggest test of her handling of the landmark election interference case.
Ms. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, was accused this week of having a relationship with the lead prosecutor she hired for the Trump case, a turn of events that has galvanized Republicans and raised a slew of questions raise concerns about her behavior. and judgement. The plaintiff, Nathan Wade, has collected more than $650,000 in legal fees.
While many legal experts doubt that the allegations – if true – will derail the case, they could pose significant problems for Ms. Willis and create distraction around the case. The allegations have already caused a firestorm among the political right, with Mr. Trump and his allies accusing her of violating a range of county and state laws. They’ve even given some Democrats pause.
“If the allegations are true — and that’s a big ask — it’s troubling,” Robb Pitts, a Democrat who chairs the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, said in an interview this week. “The fact that this is coming up at this time and at this point in this process may raise questions.”
The allegations, which were filed without supporting documents or named witnesses, emerged Monday in a lawsuit from a lawyer for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official who is charged along with Mr. Trump and 13 others in the case.
The filing revealed that the relationship was the reason Ms. Willis chose Mr. Wade, who had never presided over a high-profile criminal case and had worked largely as a suburban attorney and municipal judge.
The filing alleges that Ms. Willis took advantage of Mr. Wade’s income from her office — taxpayer money — by accompanying him on vacations for which he sometimes paid.
The day after Mr. Wade started working at the DA’s office in 2022, he filed for divorce. Lawyers for his wife, Joycelyn, issued a summons to Ms. Willis this week, asking her to appear on Jan. 23 in ongoing divorce proceedings.
While the court papers do not contain any evidence of the relationship between the accusers, they claim that the two were seen “in a personal relationship” in Atlanta and claim that people close to both of them confirmed their relationship.
Mr. Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, is trying to unseat the files in the Wade divorce case.
Amid the uproar, Ms. Willis’ office has not denied the allegations and provided little comment other than to say it will respond in a lawsuit. This has been raising a series of serious unanswered questions for days about the possible consequences and the legal consequences.
“I would be surprised if all of this required the charges to be dismissed,” says Nathan S. Chapman, a law professor at the University of Georgia who teaches a course on ethics issues, “but if the allegations are true, it is a pretty disastrous own business. goal by team Willis.”
He added that while he was not an expert on Georgia’s laws against government corruption, he “wouldn’t be at all surprised if the behavior violates some of those laws.”
Mr. Roman’s filing accuses Ms. Willis of violating Fulton County laws regarding conflicts of interest and nepotism. But the passage about nepotism applies to family members; the county’s definition does not appear to include romantic partners.
A county spokeswoman, Jessica Corbitt, said she was not aware of any investigation or complaint filed with the county commission, but that such matters would rather be the domain of the county ethics board. The board secretary did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Among the allegations in Mr. Roman’s filings is that some provincial funds earmarked to clear a backlog of cases that built up during the pandemic were instead used to pay Mr. Wade. Mr. Pitts, the chairman of the provincial commission, said the province is looking into it.
Mr Trump has used the accusations to renew attacks on Georgia prosecutors in a series of posts on social media. One of his most ardent supporters in Congress, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, asked The state’s governor and attorney general will investigate the matter of Mr. Wade’s nomination on Wednesday. Governor Brian Kemp has thus far generally not been critical of Ms. Willis’ investigation.
Ms. Greene outlined a number of state laws that she believes Ms. Willis may have violated, including laws on bribery, undue influence of a public official and conspiracy to defraud the government. It was not immediately clear how some of those laws would apply; the bribery statute appears largely focused on payoffs to or requested by government officials.
But Ms. Greene and others also pointed it out the oath made by prosecutors in Georgia, promising to accept only their “lawful damages.” If Ms. Willis benefited from the money paid to Mr. Wade, “she was violating her oath and many of Georgia’s criminal laws,” Ms. Greene said in her letter to Mr. Kemp.
Ms. Merchant’s request seeks to remove Mr. Wade, Ms. Willis and the entire district attorney’s office from the case — and to dismiss it. But some of her key arguments may face an uphill battle. Ms. Merchant said Ms. Willis did not receive proper approval from the province when she hired Mr. Wade. But Fulton County Attorney Soo Jo said this week that Ms. Willis did not need the county commission’s approval to hire Mr. Wade.
Ms Merchant also argued that Mr Wade is not qualified. Still, she praised Mr. Wade’s “robust legal background” on Facebook in 2016, when she supported him in one of his failed attempts to be elected as a Supreme Court justice.
“Nathan has practiced in every area of law that comes before the Supreme Court,” she wrote. Another post shows a photo of her posing in a Wade campaign T-shirt.
Asked about the posts on Thursday, Ms Merchant said: “Nathan Wade was the most qualified candidate in that race.”
Another challenge for Ms. Willis will be a new Georgia commission created last year by the state’s Republican leaders to oversee local prosecutors. Mrs Willis was strongly opposed to its creation.
The commission currently has no authority due to a recent court ruling, but Republican lawmakers are working on legislation to correct that.
Even before the allegations came to light this week, a group of conservative lawmakers had already done so indicated that they planned to file a complaint with the new commission, arguing that Ms. Willis was failing to address a backlog of cases while spending money to “pursue politically motivated cases.”
Josh McKoon, the chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, said this week that he expected the new allegations would form the basis for a new complaint and expedite lawmakers’ efforts to resolve the problems keeping the new commission from pursuing its work to start.
“I suspect a complaint will be filed,” Mr McKoon said. “I also expect that the Legislature will move quickly to address these technicalities so the committee can get to work.”
This week, Mr. McKoon, a lawyer and former lawmaker, called on social media for a halt to all criminal proceedings in the Trump case while the allegations against Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade were investigated.
Clark D. Cunningham, a professor of law and ethics at Georgia State University, called the new claims “very serious allegations” and said the new commission would be a good venue to investigate them. He noted that the body’s draft rules give it the authority to investigate and discipline prosecutors for “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and brings the office into disrepute.”
It is unclear whether this will affect the timing of a trial in the Trump case. Ms. Willis has requested a start date of August 5, but the presiding judge, Scott McAfee of the Fulton County Superior Court, has yet to set a date. Ms Willis recently predicted that any trial would not end until next year.
Her next big step will be to file a response to the allegations. At that time, Judge McAfee may decide to hold a hearing. If a hearing takes place, Ms. Merchant may offer witnesses who she says could help corroborate the allegations of an affair. Like almost all proceedings in the case, such a hearing would be broadcast live.
A date for the hearing to unseat Wade’s divorce papers has been set for Jan. 31 in Cobb County. But some discussion about the Roman application will likely come up during hearings taking place Friday in downtown Atlanta.