Donald Trump plans to attend Fani Willis’ hearing on Thursday, Feb. 15 in Atlanta. This will be Trump’s first visit to Georgia since he was forced to surrender at Rice Street Jail after Willis brought racketeering charges against him for tampering with Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. Now Trump intends to gloat about Willis’ possible recusal from his trial for conflict of interest after having admitted to having a relationship with special prosecutor Wade. Fulton County court officials are concerned that Trump’s presence at the hearing could cause major distractions in the proceedings.
Last week Willis issued a statement regarding the relationship that became public knowledge during Wade’s divorce proceedings.
“There are no joint or shared finances or financial accounts; there is not now and has never been any shared household; there is no financial dependency or merging of daily expenses; financial responsibility for personal travel taken is divided roughly evenly between the two, with neither being primarily responsible for expenses of the other, and all expenses paid for with individual personal funds,” the statement reads.
In conclusion, Willis says that she, nor Wade, “have done nothing to establish an actual conflict of interest, nor have they shown that, in the handling of the case, have acted out of any personal or financial motivation.”
Willis and Wade’s relationship came to light after Wade’s divorce proceedings caught the attention of the attorney for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official. Roman asked that his charges be dismissed because 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.
Filings from the divorce have 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 the affair between Willis and Wade may give the appearance of impropriety there’s no basis under Georgia Law to disqualify Willis or Wade from continuing to prosecute 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.’”
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