Trump seeks details of Atlanta prosecutor’s meetings with Biden aides

Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump are seeking more information about the conversations that prosecutors in Atlanta had with the Biden White House, as well as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol .

Mr. Trump has for some time claimed that the election interference case brought against him by Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, is tainted by ties to both entities. A legal filing this week from one of Trump’s co-defendants in the case provided new details about the contacts. The former president and 14 of his allies face racketeering and other charges in the investigation.

It has been known since 2021, when Ms Willis began her investigation, that she attempted to use evidence gathered by the January 6 House committee. Her office’s contacts with the White House Counsel’s Office came in 2022, as she gathered facts and evidence about the conduct of Trump officials in the White House and sought to compel their testimony before a special grand jury.

One of the officials scheduled to be subpoenaed to testify was Pat Cipollone, a former White House counsel.

The revelations came in expense reports from Nathan Wade, the outside lawyer hired by Ms. Willis to lead Trump’s prosecution. They were involved a public filing this week from Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official who is a defendant in the case.

The filing put a spotlight on Mr. Wade, accusing him of having a relationship with Ms. Willis and suggesting their relationship was the reason she chose Mr. Wade for the high-paying job. Lawyers for Mr. Wade’s wife, Jocelyn Wade, this week issued a summons to Ms. Willis, asking her to appear in ongoing divorce proceedings.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, has asked the state’s governor and attorney general to investigate the matter of Mr. Wade’s appointment. Mr. Trump has used the affair allegations to renew his attacks on the prosecutor.

“When is Fani going to drop the case, or should it be dismissed for her?” Mr. Trump asked in one social media message this week.

The court papers do not contain any evidence of the relationship between the two accusers; it previously claimed that they were seen “in the capacity of a personal relationship” in Atlanta, and claimed that people close to both accusers had confirmed their relationship. Mr. Roman’s lawyer tries to unlock the files in the Wade divorce case.

Ms. Willis’ office has thus far remained silent on the matter, other than to say it will respond in court to the allegations that have been made.

Mr. Wade’s expense reports show that he traveled to Athens, Georgia, on May 23, 2022, for a conference with the White House Counsel’s Office. It is not clear why the meeting took place in Athens. It came as Ms. Willis’ office was preparing to subpoena dozens of witnesses to appear before a special grand jury she was convening in Atlanta, whose members would spend several months listening to testimony.

Mr. Wade’s billing records show that a “DC/White House interview” took place in mid-November 2022, while the special grand jury’s work was still underway. At the time, Ms. Willis’ office fought in court to secure the testimony of another former official, Mark Meadows, who had served as White House chief of staff during the 2020 election. Mr. Meadows was later among those charged in the case.

Mr. Meadows’ aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, a central figure in the House of Representatives hearings on Jan. 6, was also among the witnesses who testified before the special grand jury in Georgia.

Norman Eisen, a former special counsel in the Obama administration, said it was common for the White House Counsel’s Office to become involved in seeking testimony from officials of former administrations because there may be executive privilege issues.

Mr. Eisen said his advice to former White House officials was “to tell prosecutors that you need White House clearance, or at least simply inform the White House that this is going to happen and give them the opportunity give the opportunity to object, without as a condition to ask their permission” to testify.

Discussions with the Biden administration have not always been productive for Ms. Willis’ office. The Justice Department thwarted its efforts to interview Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official in the Trump administration who was later indicted in Georgia.

Mr. Trump, Mr. Meadows and Mr. Clark have all pleaded not guilty, as has Mr. Roman.