Fani Willis asks Georgia appeals court to toss Trump’s bid to oust her
A Georgia appeals court should reject Donald Trump’s attempt to boot Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the election fraud case against the former president because former lead prosecutor Nathan Wade — with whom Willis carried on an affair — is no longer involved in the matter, new court papers say.
The former president — and eight other defendants accused of trying to unlawfully overturn the outcome of the Peach State’s 2020 presidential vote — are asking the Georgia Court of Appeals to have the embattled Atlanta prosecutor kicked off the case over her romance with Wade, on grounds she had an impermissible conflict of interest.
But Willis’ office argued Wednesday that any accusation of misconduct against the DA is now moot since Wade stepped down as special prosecutor March 15 after Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee ruled that only one of the lovers could continue on the case in order to remedy the “significant appearance of impropriety.”
McAfee’s “concern with any potential ‘questions’ stemmed from Wade’s continued presence in the case, a concern that was addressed when Wade withdrew,” Willis’ office argued.
The defendants’ “remaining evidence therefore relates to possible concerns about future appearances of impropriety that can no longer even come to pass,” the DA’s office wrote in filing.
McAfee’s decision — which was highly critical of Willis and Wade’s conduct — came after several days of hearings that saw Willis and Wade separately testify that they dated, but only after he’d already been hired and working on the Trump probe for several months.
The duo also rebutted claims that Willis financially benefited from dating Wade — who was raking in a lucrative salary on the case — when he treated her to exotic vacations.
Willis and Wade told the judge they split the cost of their travel, with Willis reimbursing Wade in cash after he charged trip costs to his credit card.
Willis’ office claimed Wednesday the arguments behind the motion to disqualify her became “a room without walls” after testimony by star witness Terrence Bradley — Wade’s former law partner and divorce attorney — was disregarded by McAfee over credibility issues.
The defendants “had to show that the District Attorney had an improper personal stake in the outcome of their prosecution,” Willis’ office wrote. “They failed to do so, and when evidence related to Bradley is properly disregarded, their theory becomes a room without walls.”
Trump’s lawyer Steve Sadow said the motion is a “last ditch effort to stop any appellate review of DA Willis’ misconduct.”
“The State’s motion deliberately failed to mention that Judge McAfee’s ruling stated an ‘odor of mendacity remains’ from the hearing testimony by the DA and the State’s witnesses,” Sadow continued. “The judge also said there were ‘reasonable questions’ as to whether Willis and former prosecutor Wade testified untruthfully.”
“The State has tried this gambit before with no success.”
The Court of Appeals last week put the criminal case against Trump on hold until the higher court makes a ruling on the motion to disqualify Willis.
The trial against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee won’t go forward until after appellate arguments tentatively set for Oct. 4 are heard.
That schedule likely means the actual trial of Trump won’t begin until after the Nov. 5 presidential election.
An interview of Wade Wednesday on CNN’s “The Source” hosted by Kaitlan Collins was interrupted when Wade’s so-called “media consultant” pulled the lawyer into a huddle to stop him from answering a question about when he and Willis struck up their romance.
After Wade spoke with his rep for nearly a minute off-mic, he came back and said he couldn’t answer the question because of the pending Court of Appeals case.
“I don’t choose to say or do anything that would jeopardize the case or the court’s ruling,” he said.
