The Georgia district attorney who has charged former President Donald Trump with criminal conduct over his challenge of the 2020 election results in the state has admitted to engaging in a personal relationship with the special prosecutor she appointed in the case.
Trump has sought to have Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis disqualified from trying him for alleged election interference and RICO statute violations, among other charges.
One of the former president’s co-defendants in the RICO case alleged Willis engaged in a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Last month, attorneys for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official, argued the relationship between the two had tainted the case and moved to have them each disqualified and the case dismissed.
In a 176-page legal filing Friday obtained by NBC News, Willis acknowledged the relationship but claimed there is no conflict of interest.
She argued that “any personal relationship among members of the prosecution team does not amount to a disqualifying conflict of interest or otherwise harm a criminal defendant.”
“Defendants have done nothing to establish an actual conflict of interest, nor have they shown that, in the handling of the case, District Attorney Willis or Special Prosecutor Wade have acted out of any personal or financial motivation,” the filing said.
“To be absolutely clear, the personal relationship between Special Prosecutor Wade and District Attorney Willis has never involved direct or indirect financial benefit to District Attorney Willis,” it said.
Wade also claimed in an affidavit that Willis hired him before she began a relationship with him.
Will this have an impact on Trump’s case in Georgia?
“In 2022, District Attorney Willis and I developed a personal relationship in addition to our professional association and friendship,” he said.
Wade also claimed in the affidavit that he and Willis have split the bills on any traveling they have done together, and he accused Roman’s legal team of implying their relationship is “salacious.”
Trump ripped the statement in a post on his Truth Social account.
“Fani Willis, the D.A. of Fulton County, just admitted to having a sexual relationship with the Prosecutor she, in consultation with the White House and DOJ, appointed to ‘GET PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP,’” he said.
“By going after the most high level person, and the Republican Nominee, she was able to get her ‘lover’ much more money, almost a Million Dollars, than she would be able to get for the prosecution of any other person or individual,” the former president said.
Trump concluded that the case against him is now “TOTALLY DISCREDITED & OVER!”
