Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, has admitted to having an affair with a prosecutor who is assisting her in her case against Donald Trump. However, she has stated that this has not affected her conduct of the investigation. She instead claimed that Trump and the other defendants’ attempts to have her removed from the case because of their friendship were an attempt at a “public relations strategy” to weaken the investigation.
Willis denied being unduly benefitted by the Trump case and cast doubt on assertions that her connection to special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest in a 176-page brief that she submitted on Friday. One of Trump’s co-defendants charged in court papers last month that Wade had used case funds to fund extravagant vacations with Willis.
In her initial official reaction to the misbehaviour claims, Willis filed a document in which she stated that she and Wade were not romantically connected when she hired him as a contract attorney in November 2021 to assist with her investigation into attempts to tamper with the 2020 Georgia presidential election results.
There was a “personal relationship in addition to our professional association and friendship” between the two prosecutors in 2022, according to the document.
But Willis insisted the connection was perfectly legal and that it shouldn’t throw the case off course because it didn’t break any ethical norms. In addition, she defended Wade’s qualifications and billing methods.
Willis referred to the attempt to remove her office as “malicious” and pleaded with Judge Scott McAfee to postpone a hearing on the accusations of wrongdoing that was supposed to take place on February 15th.
“This is not an example of passionate advocacy, nor is it a sincere attempt to establish a ground rule on a contentious legal matter— it is a ticket to the circus,” the filing states.
Willis is facing 19 charges under the state’s organised crime statute. Almost one month ago, Mike Roman, who is one of those charges, claimed that Willis personally profited from her association with Wade. This filing follows his allegations. A former Trump campaign official named Roman also claimed that the charges should be dismissed because Willis lacked the authority to appoint Wade as special prosecutor and because of his involvement in Roman’s indictment.
“Sprawling accusations of seeking publicity aside, it is imperative that it be clarified that District Attorney Willis did not seek out this case,” states Willis’ brief. The 2020 Georgia election was targeted by these Defendants, who committed crimes in Fulton County as part of their racketeering conspiracy. Legal reasoning is not behind the motions; rather, they are based on speculation and PR stunts.
Willis peppered the document with criticisms of other lawyers participating in the case, saying that two of the defence attorneys were also known to be in a romantic relationship and that another couple of lawyers were married. She went on to say that neither of those partnerships was controversial.
She stated that the attorneys’ personal lives were not brought up in the trial until Roman’s motion was submitted.