Georgia Judge Orders Hearing on Allegations DA Fani Willis Hired Former Romantic Partner to Lead Trump Prosecution

A hearing will take place in Georgia next month over accusations that Fulton County District attorney Fani Willis and her lead prosecutor on the county’s election-interference case against former president Donald Trump had an improper relationship and mishandled taxpayer funds.

The hearing is scheduled for February 15, according to an order from Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. The judge gave Willis until February 2 to respond to the allegations, which were first reported in a legal filing from one of Trump’s co-defendants, former campaign aide Mike Roman. 

Lawyers for Roman called for Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade to be removed from the case and for the charges against Roman to be dismissed “on the grounds that the district attorney and the special prosecutor have been engaged in an improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency of this case, which has resulted in the special prosecutor, and, in turn, the district attorney, profiting significantly from this prosecution at the expense of the taxpayers.”

The filing does not include any hard proof of the pair’s alleged romantic relationship, but claims “sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney have confirmed they had an ongoing, personal relationship.”

Wade has been paid more than half a million dollars through his involvement in prosecuting the Trump election-interference case.

Willis’s office said earlier this month they would respond to the allegations in a court filing, rather than issuing a public statement.

A Georgia grand jury indicted Trump and more than a dozen of his close allies in mid-August over allegations they schemed to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

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 defendants include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and several members of Trump’s legal team: 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.”

Prosecutors allege that Trump and his allies were “engaged in various related criminal activities including, but not limited to, false statements and writings, impersonating a public officer, forgery, filing false documents, influencing witnesses, computer theft, computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, conspiracy to defraud the state, acts involving theft, and perjury.”

An email thread reviewed by the New York Times unveiled tension between prosecutors and defense lawyers in the case in the days before and after the allegations against Willis came to light.

Trump attorney Steven Sadow sent an email on the thread, which includes prosecutors and other defense lawyers, questioning why prosecutors had not responded to a prior request he made.

“For the life of me, I cannot understand why you refuse to respond to the series of emails below,” he reportedly wrote on January 5.

Five days later, executive district attorney Daysha Young replied that she and Willis “are both aware, especially as an African American woman some find it difficult to treat us respectfully.”

“Over the last month the emails of some of you have been disrespectful and condescending lacking both professionalism and decorum,” she said, explaining that she had not responded to some emails because they were disrespectful.

Sadow replied that it was “offensive, uncalled for and untrue” to accuse him of racism and suggested Young ignoring emails “suggests a degree of haughtiness.”

Willis then wrote in an email to all of the defense lawyers, “In the legal community (and the world at large) some people will never be able to respect African Americans and/or women as their equal and counterpart. That is a burden you do not experience. Further, some are so used to doing it they are not even aware they are doing it while others are intentional in their continued disrespect.”

“Now you know, I cannot be bullied,” she added. “So I do not even think anyone on this team thought someone was silly enough to try that as a tactic. As you are aware, I have now experienced some of the most powerful people in the country call me everything, but a child of God. But, yet here I and my team stand still pursuing justice.”