Georgia DA Accuses Critics of ‘Playing the Race Card’ after Allegedly Tapping Ex-Boyfriend to Lead Trump Prosecution

Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis argued in a speech on Sunday that the Trump associate who accused her of appointing a former romantic partner to oversee the prosecution of the former president was motivated by racism.

“Wait a minute, God. 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,” Willis told congregants at the Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta, reading from a letter she had written. “Oh Lord, they’re going to be mad when they call us out on this nonsense. First thing they’ll say, ‘Oh, she’s going to play the racism card now.’”

“Isn’t it them playing the race card when they constantly think I need someone from some other jurisdiction in some other state to tell me how to do a job I’ve been doing almost 30 years?”

While she did not explicitly name Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she appointed to oversee the Trump election interference case in Georgia, Willis referred to the attorney as a “superstar” as well as “a great friend and a great lawyer.” The district attorney did not comment on whether or not she had been romantically involved with Wade, though she did acknowledge having made mistakes.

“You cannot expect black women to be perfect and save the world,” Willis said. “We need to be allowed to stumble. We need grace.”

Trump also seized on the allegations, telling a rally in Indianola, Iowa, that it was clear evidence of corruption. “You saw Fani Willis gave her boyfriend a million bucks to go get Trump, right?” the former president said on the campaign trail ahead of Monday’s primary vote. “She’s been exposed. I can’t imagine they can continue on with that case.”

Last Monday, the legal representatives of Michael Roman, who briefly served as a researcher and special assistant to then-President Trump, accused Willis of impropriety in a court filing. “The district attorney and the special prosecutor have been seen in private together in and about the Atlanta area and believed to have co-habited in some form or fashion at a location owned by neither of them,” Roman’s attorneys wrote.

Wade was paid $654,000by Fulton County for his work on the Trump case, according to Rowan’s suit.

However, the submission did not offer any explicit proof of the DA’s connection to Wade, claiming only that “sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney have confirmed they had an ongoing, personal relationship.” Wade was paid over half a million dollars throughout his involvement in the Trump election-interference case, which Willis has overseen and authorized.

“That does not mean that her decisions were in fact improperly motivated,” NYU law school professor Stephen Gillers told the Journal-Constitution explaining the allegations. “It does mean that the public and the state, as her client, could not have the confidence in the independent judgment that her position required her to exercise.”

Rowan’s legal team also questioned Wade’s experience. “The research reveals that the special prosecutor never tried a felony RICO case. The State of Georgia and the City of Atlanta has several lawyers who specialize in the prosecuting and defending RICO cases,” the filing reads. “Despite having access to these resources, why would the district attorney, instead, appoint someone who has never tried a felony RICO case, particularly in a case with such national significance as this one?”

In mid August, the former president and over a dozen associates were indicted by a Georgia grand jury over allegations that they sought to overturn the 2020 presidential-election results. Trump was charged with conspiracy to commit forgery, filing false documents, Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer, and violating the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.

Other notable defendants named in the nearly 100-page indictment include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and members of Trump’s legal team, notably: Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and Sidney Powell.

“Trump and the other Defendants charged in this Indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” the indictment reads. “That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose to commit two or more acts of racketeering activity in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, and in other states.”

Representative Jim Jordan sent a letter to Wade on Friday demanding documents and information as part of an investigation into “politically motivated” prosecutions in the Fulton County DA’s office.

“Based on recent reports, we believe that you possess documents and information about the coordination of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office (FCDAO) with other politically motivated investigations and prosecutions and the potential misuse of federal funds,” Jordan wrote to Wade in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.

The Judiciary Committee chairman added that he has “serious concerns about the degree of improper coordination among politicized actors, including the Biden White House, to investigate and prosecute President Biden’s chief political opponent.”