DA Fani Willis, prosecutor Nathan Wade should step down from Trump election fraud case: expert
Embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the lead prosecutor she appointed to the Trump election fraud case should both step down over allegations they had an affair, a legal expert told The Post.
“It’s a terrible look,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said of Willis’ alleged “clandestine” romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
“You are prosecuting probably the most politicized trial in American history. And to do something foolish like this, you are a public servant you need to make sure that people have faith in our criminal justice system,” Rahmani said.
“Prosecutors are supposed to be held to a higher standard,” he added.
Willis isn’t planning to recuse herself from the case and Wade also doesn’t have any immediately plans to step down from helming the prosecution, CNN reported, citing sources.
Willis partially feared that if she stepped down, it could kill the case, as there is no guarantee another prosecutor would take up the challenging legal task and because trial would inevitably be delayed — possibly until after the 2024 presidential election, sources told the outlet.
But Rahmani says the affair allegations have caused “collateral issues” and it’s a “black eye for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.”
“It’s incredibly foolish, it’s potentially unethical and maybe even criminal,” Rahmani said. “If I were her, I would say ‘I’m walking myself off from the case. Wade is no longer handling the case. The career prosecutors from my office will continue to handle it and I won’t have anything to do with it,'” the lawyer said.
Still, Rahmani said that the bid by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman to get the criminal charges against him tossed on conflict-of-interest grounds based on the alleged affair isn’t likely to succeed since it wouldn’t change “the merit of the case.”
The former president and at least one other of the 14 co-defendants accused of trying to overturn with the state’s 2020 presidential election result have since joined Roman’s motion. Willis’ office must file a response in writing by Friday and oral arguments are set in the case for Feb. 15.
“If Fani Willis hires someone who is not qualified, if Fani Willis overpays someone, if Fani Willis has an affair, none of that creates a conflict with respect to Trump and the other co-defendants in the case,” Rahmani said. “So it’s not going to require disqualification, even though it can result in other collateral issues for Willis and Wade.”
Roman’s bombshell motion from last month claimed that Willis hired her married boyfriend, who had no prior prosecutorial experience, at a much higher salary than the norm and then benefitted from that salary when Wade treated her to vacations — potentially amounting to the crime of honest services fraud.
Rahmani said Willis has put herself in a position of defense and is now “on the run” because of her “lapse in judgment.”
While Rahmani thinks both prosecutors should step down he said greater blame lies with Willis.
“Really the impropriety here is with Willis more than Wade,” he said. “She is the one who is making this decision. She is the most culpable.”
Both Rahmani and Cornell Law School professor Robert Hockett agree that the conflict-of-interest legal argument won’t hold water in court since Willis and Wade are on the same side.
“The phrase conflict of interest is really straight forward,” Hockett said. “You have an interest in both sides where your duty is to be on one side or the other — but not both. So as a matter of Georgia law [the affair allegation] is completely irrelevant.”
And Hockett agreed, “The optics are not so great” but he said it shouldn’t impact Trump’s case. If anything the voters can decide whether to reelect Willis and government can decide whether there is an ethical problem.
The scandal also brought Wade’s divorce from estranged wife Joycelyn Wade into the spotlight when the wife sought Willis’ testimony in the divorce case, claiming that Nathan was spending money on his alleged flame was paying a small sum of money to Joycelyn each month.
A judge decided to put off a ruling on whether Willis must testify in the nearby Cobb County divorce case until he heard from Nathan first — which was likely to have happened at a hearing Wednesday that was canceled the evening before when the estranged pair reached a temporary settlement.
But Willis and Wade have also both been subpoenaed to testify at the Feb. 15 hearing in the Fulton County criminal case. The duo could try to get out of public testimony.
Willis has reportedly personally worked on the court papers that are due tomorrow in the case and she may not actually deny the affair claims, but will instead focus on debunking the legal arguments of the Trump defendants, sources told CNN.
Willis hasn’t directly addressed the affair accusations to date, but she has claimed she is being targeted for racially motivated reasons.
Willis is being audited by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners over allegations she omitted on financial disclosures that trips Wade allegedly treated her to.
And the Georgia General Assembly is weighing legislation that would bring back a commission to discipline and remove prosecutors for misconduct.
