Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks at a press conference next to prosecutor Nathan Wade after a grand jury brought back indictments against former president Donald Trump and his allies in their attempt to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, in Atlanta on Aug. 14, 2023.
Elijah Nouvelage | Reuters
A Georgia judge presiding over criminal charges against Donald Trump heard arguments Thursday about whether to disqualify the district attorney leading the election interference case against the former president.
The hearing centers on allegations from one of Trump’s co-defendants that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade personally benefited from their romantic relationship.
An attorney for the D.A. kicked off the hearing by accusing a defense lawyer of making “legally meritless” and “factually unsupported” allegations in a prior hearing.
The attorney, Adam Abbate, called for a hearing on whether to sanction that lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, for their “lack of candor.”
Trump is not present at the hearing in Fulton County Superior Court. He instead is in New York City, attending a separate hearing in the hush money criminal case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney.
Willis and Wade have admitted the relationship, though they adamantly deny that it presents a conflict of interest warranting their disqualification from the case.
But Judge Scott McAfee on Monday denied Willis’ efforts to cancel the evidentiary hearing.
“I think it’s clear that disqualification can occur if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one,” McAfee said.
It is “no longer a matter of complete speculation” that a personal relationship existed between Willis and Wade, McAfee noted, “And so what remains to be proven is the existence and extent of any financial benefit, again, if there even was one.”
“Because I think it’s possible that the facts alleged by the defendant could result in disqualification, I think an evidentiary hearing must occur to establish the record on those core allegations,” the judge said.
Those remarks came during a hearing on Willis’ bid to quash motions from defendant Michael Roman, who first asked to dismiss the indictment and disqualify Willis due to her alleged personal and financial conflicts.
The filing cited Wade’s divorce proceedings, which were under seal at the time, saying they showed him and Willis traveling together to “vacation destinations” and buying cruise tickets.
Willis has called Roman’s allegations “factually inaccurate, unsupported, and malicious.”
The D.A. has charged Trump and 18 others over their alleged efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia’s 2020 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 13 criminal counts. A number of Trump’s co-defendants have already struck plea deals with prosecutors.
Trump’s lawyers joined Roman’s motions in late January. The former president has since asserted that the Georgia case has been “totally discredited” by the relationship between Willis and Wade.
But the district attorney in an early February court filing disputed multiple allegations put forward by Roman’s attorneys, even as she and Wade admitted the relationship.
She denied that their relationship began prior to November 2021, when Wade became special prosecutor in the case. She also denied that the relationship affected their “exercise of any prosecutorial discretion.”
Wade, in an affidavit included in Willis’ filing, added that he has “no financial interest” in the outcome of the case, and that “No funds paid to me in compensation for my role as Special Prosecutor have been shared with or provided to District Attorney Willis.”
Willis “received no funds or personal financial gain from my position as Special Prosecutor,” he wrote.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
