Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appeared to defend accusations of having an alleged secret lover co-prosecutor as they oversee the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump.
Willis was accused in a stunning court filing by one of Trump’s co-defendants of having an affair with Nathan Wade, who was paid more than $600,000 as a special prosecutor assisting her office.
Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has filed a formal complaint of misconduct against Willis, while House Republicans have kicked off an investigation into Wade.
The former president pointed to the allegations Tuesday and said it meant the Georgia prosecutor was ‘totally compromised’ and that the racketeering case against Trump and 18 codefendants ‘has to be dropped.’
In an impassioned 35-minute speech at the Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta Sunday, she did not directly refer to – and did not deny – the accusations but suggested that criticism of her was racist and sexist.
‘You cannot expect black women to be perfect and save the world. We need to be allowed to stumble,’ she said.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appeared to defend accusations of having an alleged secret lover co-prosecutor as they oversee the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump
Without naming Wade, she clearly appeared to be referring to him in her speech, adding that this ‘someone’ had ‘impeccable credentials’ and years of expertise.
‘They are going to be mad when I call them out on this nonsense,’ Willis told the congregation. ‘First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s going to play the race card.’ But … isn’t it them playing the race card when they think I need someone in some other jurisdiction in some other state to tell me how to do a job I’ve been doing almost 30 years?’
Willis thanked leaders of the historically black church in Atlanta who ‘didn´t care what they said about me’ and told her ‘the invite was still good’ to speak.
‘I hope for y’all this week I don´t look like what I’ve been through,’ she said.
She repeatedly referred to herself as ‘imperfect’ and ‘flawed,’ noting that the only perfect person was Jesus.
‘Today, what he has brought you is his very flawed, hardheaded and imperfect servant,’ she said.
Willis said her father, who she said met and spent time with Dr. Martin Luther King, told her that he saw the civil rights leader at low moments, saddened because people were cruel and unsupportive.
Her father told her that King ‘was not a perfect man, but he was a great man, willing to answer God’s call.’
In an impassioned 35-minute speech at the Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta Sunday, she did not directly refer to – and did not deny – the accusations but suggested that criticism of her was racist and sexist
Former President Donald Trump said following arguments at a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., that Fulton County, Georgia DA Fani Willis was ‘totally compromised,’ following allegations she had a ‘romantic’ affair with a private lawyer acting as a paid special prosecutor
A lawyer representing Michael Roman made the bombshell allegations against Willis and Nathan Wade (pictured center) in a filing and asked that charges be dismissed
Without naming Wade, Willis clearly appeared to be referring to him in her speech, adding that this ‘someone’ had ‘impeccable credentials’ and years of expertise
At a low point in the past week, she said, she ‘penned a letter to my heavenly Father.’
She framed much of her speech at the church as a conversation with God, describing herself over and over again as flawed, imperfect and hard-headed.
‘You did not tell me as a woman of color, it would not matter what I did. My motive, my talent, my ability and my character would be constantly attacked,’ she said.
She appeared to choke up briefly at times and talked about the loneliness and stress of her job, saying she has come to think it is ‘not normal if I don’t have two death threats a week’ and that she’s regularly called racial slurs.
Willis revealed that on Christmas night, she got an emergency call saying police had surrounded her house because a man had called 911 saying he had shot a woman there.
She said she experienced ‘pure, unimaginable fear,’ believing her older daughter was dead in her home until the incident was revealed to be ‘a cruel hoax.’
Willis said she hired three special prosecutors for the election case: a white man, a white woman and a Black man.
They are paid the same hourly rate and no one has questioned the qualifications of the two white lawyers, she said.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis waits for a worship service to begin at the Big Bethel AME Church, where she was invited as a guest speaker Sunday
She framed much of her speech at the church as a conversation with God, describing herself over and over again as flawed, imperfect and hard-headed
While never mentioning Wade by name, she called him a ‘superstar, a great friend and a great lawyer.’
She cited his accomplishments and past professional experience and said, ‘I’m just asking, God, is it that some will never see a Black man as qualified, no matter his achievements?’
The pair are accused of having traveled together to Napa Valley and the Caribbean Islands.
Trump blasted the bombshell revelations about an alleged ‘romantic’ relationship between Willis and Wade, a private lawyer serving on her team.
‘She was out of her mind,’ Trump fumed about Willis, who was already one of his regular targets during her grand jury probe and since his arrest last summer. ‘Now it turns out that that case is totally compromised. In fact, they say she’s in far more criminal liability than any of the people she’s looking at,’ he claimed.
‘So, I think that when you look at what happened with, they pay a lawyer with absolutely no experience $700,000 who happens your lover or boyfriend and then they go on trips and vacations together very expensive vacations together. And the reason they paid him so much because he was after me,’ he continued.
It comes after Willis was accused in a stunning court filing by one of Trump’s co-defendants of having an affair with Nathan Wade, who was paid more than $600,000 as a special prosecutor assisting her office
He said legal analysts he spoke to told him the case had to be dropped, although it wasn’t clear if he meant the case against former Trump campaign official Michael Roman, who raised it in the bombshell filing, or against Trump and other associates accused of conspiring to overturn the election results in the state.
‘Very good people were very badly hurt by that case. It’s a shame. Very good people. People that did nothing wrong. They did nothing different than what Democrats have been doing for years and years and years, whether it’s slates or anything else that you’re talking about. But they were very hurt. And it turns out that she profited tremendously in that case, it’s illegal. What she did is illegal. So we’ll let the state handle that but what a sad situation,’ he said.
The bombshell allegations are included in a filing by Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official who is accused of taking part in the ‘fake electors’ scheme as one of 18 people charged in the state along with Trump.
Trump’s comments came as it was revealed through invoices that Roman had two past meetings with the Biden White House counsel’s office.
He has made similar attacks against other prosecutors lining up against him in his four criminal trials and civil cases, calling Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was on hand at the appeals court Tuesday, ‘deranged’ and calling New York AG Letitia James a ‘lunatic.’
Trump was also hyping the allegations in a fundraising pitch to his supporters.
‘The Atlanta prosecutor behind my MUGSHOT has now been EXPOSED for ‘impropriety’ in the case,’ according to the appeal.
The filing doesn’t provide documentary proof of the allegations. It states that ‘sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney have confirmed they had an ongoing, personal relationship.’
Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) confers with lead prosecutors, Donald Wakeford (left) and Nathan Wade, during a hearing at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Friday, July 1, 2022
The Judiciary Committee wrote a letter to attorney Nathan Wade requesting documents related to his work on the Trump indictment in Georgia, noting that he had been paid more than $650,000 – at a rate of $250 an hour – to work on the investigation and prosecution of Trump and other federal officials, according to a new court filing.
Wade was hired as an ‘anti-corruption special prosecutor’ to investigate Trump’s alleged election interference.
Wade had never previously handled a felony trial, according to the stunning new filing by Roman, one of the former president’s co-defendants in the ‘fake electors scheme.’
The committee noted federal funds may have been used to pay Wade, granting them jurisdiction to investigate. It highlighted the ‘enormous legal fees’ Wade had billed the DA’s office for, in one instance, on November 5, 2021, charging for 24 hours of legal work in one day, claiming to have worked all day and night on the prosecution.
The court document released last Monday alleged that Willis and Wade had been in a romantic relationship that predates her hiring him on the case.
While not proven, Willis hiring her boyfriend despite him having little expertise to lead on the prosecution and both of them financially benefitting from the arrangement could prove to be a conflict of interest.
Roman is accused of taking part in the ‘fake electors’ scheme, and is one of 18 people charged in George alongside Trump.
The filing said Wade was not qualified to serve as a court-appointed defense lawyer in the Trump case because needs to have tried ‘at least two criminal trials of similar offenses,’ per a 2022 document from the Fulton County Superior Court.
Earlier this week DailyMail.com reported Wade had two meetings at the Biden White House ahead of her prosecution of Trump.
Among the documents reviewed by DailyMail.com, were Wade’s invoices to the DA. Shockingly, they including one bill for an ‘interview with DC/White House’ for eight hours on November 18 2022 and another for eight hours including ‘conference with White House Counsel’ on May 23 2022.
The legal papers also claim that Willis was having an ‘an ongoing, personal relationship’ with Wade – citing ‘sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney’ but doesn’t provide documentary proof,
Roman claims the pair were in a relationship before Willis hired Wade, and that they traveled together to Napa Valley, Florida, and even on a Caribbean cruise.
The Judiciary Committee opened an investigation into the Fulton County DA in August, probing whether she improperly used federal funds for her state-level prosecution or coordinated with Biden’s Justice Department.
Special prosecutor Nathan Wade leaves the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis at the Fulton County Government building on August 23, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. He is accused by a Trump co-defendant of having a personal relationship with Willis
Among the documents reviewed by DailyMail.com, were Wade’s invoices to the DA. Shockingly, they including one bill for an ‘interview with DC /White House’ for eight hours on November 18 2022 and another for eight hours including ‘conference with White House Counsel’ on May 23 2022.
Willis has previously denied coordinating with Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office, or that her probe was politically motivated.
The filing makes reference to a sealed divorce filing for the married special prosecutor, but then goes on to make the claim based on other information.
It states that ‘information obtained outside of court filings indicates that the district attorney and special prosecutor have traveled personally together to such places as Napa Valley, Florida and the Caribbean and the special prosecutor has purchased tickets for both of them to travel on both the Norwegian and Royal Carbibean cruise lines.
‘Traveling together to such places as Washington, D.C. or New York City might make sense for work purposes in light of other pending litigation, but what work purpose could only be served by travel to this traditional vacation destinations?’
Roman was charged this summer with alleged crimes including taking part in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit forgery, and conspiracy to file false documents, all in connection with a scheme to submit fake Republican electors who would cast votes for Trump in place of electors to reflect Joe Biden’s certified victory in the state.
Trump has been charged with 91 criminal offenses in four separate criminal cases, one being the election interference case in Fulton County, Ga., where was booked and arrested and had his famous mugshot.
A Manhattan grand jury has also charged Trump with falsifying business records and Smith, appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland, has charged Trump over his handling of classified documents and separately over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.
The letter requested all communications between Wade and the Fulton County DA’s office and special counsel Jack Smith, the White House Counsel’s office, office of the president, Department of Justice and the January 6 Committee last Congress. It also requested all invoices, credit card statements and reimbursement requests to the Fulton County DA’s office relating to the Trump investigation and all contracts and financial arrangements with the DA by January 26.