District Attorney faces accusations of using public funding improperly and personally benefitting financially through hiring a lawyer.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed a lengthy response to the allegations lodged by Trump co-defendants, arguing no evidentiary hearing should be held in response to the defendants’ “salacious” allegations in the “meritless” motions to dismiss the high-profile election case.
In the 176-page filing, Ms. Willis affirms that she and special prosecutor Nathan Wade have had a personal relationship, and rejects the claim of a conflict of interest that would disqualify Ms. Willis or Mr. Wade from the case.
Mr. Wade has played a leading role in the election case and also led the special purpose grand jury proceedings that led to the indictment last year.
Ms. Willis, Mr. Wade, and Mr. Wade’s current and former law partners, as well as eight employees from Ms. Willis’s team, have been subpoenaed to testify at the Feb. 15 hearing, after which a judge will determine whether the district attorney should be disqualified and removed from the case.
Co-defendant Michael Roman, a GOP strategist who participated in the 2020 Trump campaign, first made the allegations in a motion to dismiss the indictment and disqualify the district attorney on Jan. 8.
Defendants Robert Cheeley, an attorney, and former President Donald Trump later joined the motion.
Mr. Roman alleged Ms. Willis used public funding improperly, including pulling funds meant to clear COVID-era backlogs to pursue the racketeering case and personally benefitting financially through hiring an attorney, Mr. Wade, as special prosecutor, when she had a romantic extramarital affair with him and that the two took multiple “lavish” vacations together.
His attorney also cited reports that Ms. Willis contracted publicity services shortly before the indictment to track media mentions.
He had argued that an alleged pattern of financial misconduct and financial conflict of interest disqualified Ms. Willis and her team, and therefore the indictment should be dismissed.
The district attorney is arguing that there is no basis for disqualification, as she paid for Mr. Wade’s travel expenses as well, defended her statements about race, and pushed to cancel the upcoming hearing.
