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AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kent D. Johnson, Pool
Co-incidental to her zeal for prosecuting front-running presidential candidate Donald Trump, Fulton County, Ga., DA Fani Willis hired herself a special prosecutor with benefits, according to a new court filing.
The motion alleges that Willis hired private attorney Nathan Wade to act as her special prosecutor in her vast, convoluted RICO case against Trump and 18 others who dared pursue legal remedies for what they believed was a compromised 2020 election. She did this despite having more than one attorney within her own office who was perfectly capable of prosecuting the case. And she did it despite Wade being unqualified to handle the biggest case in Fulton County history, as he has never actually prosecuted a felony RICO case before. So why would Willis hire him?
The alleged answer is that the married father of two was tapping the dirty DA. And this opens up a whole can of big, fat ethical and legal worms that are now squirming exuberantly atop Fanis’s prosecution house of cards.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution broke the story Monday:
District Attorney Fani Willis improperly hired an alleged romantic partner to prosecute Donald Trump and financially benefited from their relationship, according to a court motion filed Monday which argued the criminal charges in the case were unconstitutional.
The bombshell public filing alleged that special prosecutor Nathan Wade, a private attorney, paid for lavish vacations he took with Willis using the Fulton County funds his law firm received. County records show that Wade, who has played a prominent role in the election interference case, has been paid nearly $654,000 in legal fees since January 2022. The DA authorizes his compensation.
While the sexy bits alone are enough to disqualify both Willis and Wade from pursuing the case, the pair are alleged to have made plenty of other missteps in their power-mad pig-pile on the former president. For one thing, there was apparently improper coordination between the DA’s office and Joe Biden’s White House.
The motion was filed on behalf of Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official who oversaw Election Day operations in 2020, by his attorney, Ashleigh Merchant. Merchant “is a well-respected Georgia attorney,” writes Peach State native Erick Erickson on his substack. “She’s not out of her league, in over her head, or outside her competence in representing opposition researcher and Georgia defendant Michael Roman, one of those named in the Fulton County, Georgia RICO case against Trump.” In other words, this is not another “Release the Kraken” disappointment:
Among the salacious allegations and one for which Merchant clearly has the receipts, the special counsel hired by Willis met with the White House in Washington about the Trump RICO case. It provides some evidence that Willis did, in fact, coordinate with the Biden team to take out Trump.
We know this because the special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, filed for reimbursement and documented a meeting with the White House Counsel about the case.
That’s Strike Two. Strike Three is the mutually self-serving financial benefit both Willis and Wade received from the arrangement. “…a review of the amount of money that the special prosecutor has been paid by the district attorney and the personal activities of the district attorney and the special prosecutor during the pendency of this prosecution shed light on just how self-serving this arrangement has been,” wrote Merchant in the complaint. The power pair are accused of enjoying trips to Florida and Napa Valley and indulging themselves on tropical cruises, among other extravagances:
While the filings in the divorce case are sealed by Court order, undersigned counsel has learned that Willis and Wade have traveled personally together to such places as Napa Valley, California, Florida and the Caribbean and Wade has purchased tickets for both of them to travel on both the Norweigan and Royal Carribean cruise lines. Wade has also purchased hotel rooms for personal trips with funds from the same account used to receive payments under his contract with Willis.
In his complaint, Roman seeks to disqualify Willis and Wade “from further prosecuting the instant matter 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.”
But let’s go back to Strike One, the illicit and compromising nature of the relationship. Willis signed Wade onto her Trump search-and-destroy team on Nov. 1, 2021. On Nov. 2, the fine, upstanding gentleman filed for divorce. Sources say their affair predated their business deal, and it continued through the years-long law-fare assault.
“The district attorney and the special prosecutor … suffer from irreparable conflicts of interest, and have violated their oaths of office under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct and should be disqualified from prosecuting this matter,” declares the court filing.
For her part, Willis has not denied the allegation but instead dispatched a spokesperson to say she would address the situation “through appropriate court filings.”
One can only imagine the sort of giddy high Willis and Wade were riding as they flexed their provincial power over a man they commonly despised. They must have imagined themselves as a superman and woman, flying above the rules and considerations that bind lower beings, entitled to the best life has to offer in payment for the historic, heroic service they were performing. It’s not hard to fathom that the situation got them hot and bothered, and that they turned to one another to experience the rush physically. They’re of the same ilk as the repugnant Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, the sleazy pair who abused the trust of the public and their spouses as they went after President Trump hammer and tongs. One hopes that Team Trump has learned enough over the past few years not to let Fani and Nathan off the hook as easily.
At any rate, 2024 is off to a spicy start. Hmm, I wonder if anyone has looked into what Tish James is up to these days?
