Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will temporarily avoid testifying in a divorce hearing involving her special prosecutor, Nathan Wade. On Jan. 30, Wade reached a temporary settlement in his divorce of Joycelyn Wade.
The temporary divorce settlement cancels a public hearing that was scheduled for today. Nathan Wade would have likely been asked about an alleged relationship with Willis. Credit card statements revealed Fani Willis’ name on trips allegedly paid by Nathan Wade.
However, Willis was not mentioned in the unsealed court documents that provided details of the divorce.
The divorce proceedings caught the attention of attorney for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official, who asked that his charges to be dismissed due to an affair Willis allegedly had with special prosecutor Wade.
The motion claimed that Willis’ alleged personal relationship with Wade should disqualify her from continuing to prosecute the case. There was also claims that Willis signed off to pay Wade $654,000 since 2022 to serve as a special prosecutor.
Alleged filings from the divorce has also been used by Republican lawmakers in Georgia to develop an oversight committee that will investigate Willis. The committee could choose that have Willis removed as District Attorney.
But while an alleged affair between Willis and Wade could create poor optics, there’s no basis under Georgia Law to disqualify Willis or Wade from continuing to prosecuting the Trump RICO case.
Under Georgia Law, a prosecutor is disqualified from a case due to a “conflict of interest” when the prosecutor’s conflicting loyalties could prejudice the defendant leading to an improper conviction. Georgia law states, “[t]here are two generally recognized grounds for disqualification of a prosecuting attorney. The first such ground is based on a conflict of interest, and the second ground has been described as ‘forensic misconduct.’”
The filing from Michael Roman and his attorney does not prove that an alleged affair would prejudice anyone involved in the election interference case.
Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the Trump RICO case, asked Willis to respond by Feb. 2 and scheduled a hearing to address the allegations to be held on Feb. 15.
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