Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting former President Donald Trump in his Georgia election interference case, is facing persistent calls for her removal from the Trump team after admitting to a romantic relationship with her lead prosecutor.
Mike Roman — one of Trump’s co-defendants — first alleged in a filing that Willis had engaged in a personal relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade on Jan. 8, subsequently calling for the judge to disqualify the entire team of prosecutors from the case.
Roman further asserted that Willis benefited financially from hiring Willis on account of their relationship, such as by joining Wade on trips that he paid for.
However, the filing didn’t provide any evidence to support the claims. So, to be quite honest, why should Willis respond? These allegations have nothing to do with the case against Trump.
Thus, Willis made a grave mistake on Friday when she admitted in a filing to having had a relationship with Wade.
Trump will take hold of any and every opportunity to divert attention away from his own crimes. Willis, unfortunately, handed him a gallon of fuel for this fire.
Willis hired Wade in November 2021 to lead the team of lawyers prosecuting Trump. Wade said in a sworn affidavit attached to the filing that he and Willis did not develop “a personal relationship in addition to their ‘professional association and friendship’” until 2022, according to the Associated Press.
Therefore, there is no reason for there to be a conflict of interest in Willis’ hiring of Wade if there was no “personal relationship” between them “prior to or at the time” he was hired, as Wade said.
Wade added that he never lived or shared financial expenses with Willis and that none of the money he made from working on the case was shared with her, which would debunk the allegations made by Roman weeks prior.
Willis denied claims of misconduct that asserted that her relationship with Wade polluted the case, calling the claims against her “meritless” and “salacious.” She also asked the judge to reject motions filed by Trump and his co-defendants seeking to disqualify her from the case.
I absolutely agree with Willis and Wade’s statements: Their past personal relationship does not impact the proceedings against Trump.
However, admitting to having had this relationship when the defense had no evidence to back up their claims gave Trump just what he needed to deflect this high profile trial’s attention off of himself — this whole case is about his alleged election interference, remember?
Trump pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges against him in the Georgia election interference case, including false claims of election fraud, solicitation of violation of oath and unlawful conspiracy to change the election outcome while participating in a criminal enterprise.
The case is also one of four that Trump is battling — the other three address alleged crimes including a “hush-money” payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, Trump’s possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and his efforts to interfere with the results of the 2020 presidential election.
However, the media has lost focus from Trump’s countless allegations since Willis and Wade’s past relationship was brought to light. As per usual, Trump has capitalized on the blunders of his enemies to distract from his own faults.
Trump responded to the filing from Willis in a post to Truth Social that she and her “lover” had “perpetrated a conspiracy” to enrich themselves and interfere with his campaign in the 2024 presidential election.
Trump’s disgusting use of the word “lover” is all a part of his ploy to dramatize the relationship and antagonize Willis and Wade. I wish I could call his efforts pathetic, but they’re working — Willis has become the center of attention in this case, and it has to stop.
Willis never should have given Trump this opportunity to shirk attention from himself, especially when the findings of this case could provide valuable information for voters going into the 2024 presidential election.
We need to see through Trump’s nonsense and refocus the attention of the trial onto holding him accountable.
You either are not aware of or just left out the fact that Wade collided with the White House on two occasions. Willis can’t screw it up any more than she has already done. The whole thing is just another attempt to stop Trump from winning another term as president. It won’t work.