Deputy quits Ga. Trump case so DA can stay on, though judge critical of affair
Georgia prosecutor Nathan Wade resigned on Friday hours after a judge ordered the prosecutor leading the RICO election interference case against former President Donald Trump to dump him over an improper affair.
The top lieutenant to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told her he would step down to help keep the historic case against Trump on track.
“I am offering my resignation in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public, and to move this case forward as quickly as possible,” Wade wrote in a one-page letter.
Willis (photo), who was lambasted by Judge Scott McAfee, accepted Wade’s resignation, praising him for his “dignity” and for enduring “unjustified attacks in the media and court.”
The dramatic resignation came several hours after McAfee trashed Willis for “tremendous lapse in judgment” in sleeping with Wade.
“The Court (doesn’t) condone this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner of the District Attorney’s testimony during the evidentiary hearing,” McAfee wrote in a sharply worded 23-page opinion.
But the judge said there was no evidence of a conflict of interest that would force Willis off the case, meaning she can move forward against Trump and more than a dozen acolytes accused of trying to steal the 2020 election.
“Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices – even repeatedly,” he added.
McAfee gave Willis the unusual choice of stepping down from the case along with her entire office or dumping Wade, whom she hired as the top prosecutor in the case.
Trump mocked Wade as “special in more ways than one” and called the forced resignation a “big deal.”
“(Wade) has just resigned in disgrace, as per … the Judge’s Order,” Trump wrote on his social media site.
Willis hired Wade to lead the team to investigate and prosecute Trump and 18 others accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn Trump’s narrow loss to President Biden in Georgia and elsewhere.
One of Trump’s co-defendants uncovered evidence that Willis and Wade carried on an affair, sparking a lurid trial within a trial over their relationship and the potential conflict of interest.
Willis took the stand herself in the hearing, angrily defending her behavior and denying any conflict stemming from her arrangements with Wade. The judge took unusual step of rebuking her during the hearing.
Aside from the affair with Wade, Willis has also stumbled by discussing the case against Trump at an Atlanta church service.
McAfee called that decision “legally improper” and suggested it could poison the jury pool by making Trump and his co-defendants seem racist.
Steve Sadow, a defense lawyer for Trump, slammed the decision to leave Willis on the case.
“The court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade,” Sadow said in a statement.
The Georgia probe was launched when Trump infamously called Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to demand he somehow “find” just enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in the Peach State.
An Atlanta special grand jury heard months of evidence that the call was just one part of a sprawling plot to steal the election, including ginning up fake slates pro-Trump electors and culminating with the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol that was designed to keep Trump in power.
The side-issue over Willis’ missteps has already delayed the case against Trump for months. No trial date has been set and it seems sure to take place after the presidential election in which Trump and Biden face off in a cataclysmic rematch.
Trump faces charges related to some of the same conduct in a Washington, D.C. federal case prosecuted by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has so far avoided any ethical or legal questions.
The Supreme Court effectively put that case on hold while it hears Trump’s claim that he should have blanket immunity against criminal prosecution over acts taken in office.