FANI VACAY ‘PAYBACK’
‘Lovers’ getaways after DA hired him?
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is now under investigation related to her appointment of Nathan Wade — as bank records show he bought tickets for the alleged lovers to fly to San Francisco in the midst of their probe into Donald Trump and election fraud in Georgia.
The request by Commissioner Bob Ellis, chairman of the county’s audit committee, is part of a probe into the potential “misuse” of taxpayer funds as a result of Wade’s appointment by Willis while the two were engaged in an alleged affair.
“Separate from any potential inquiry by the state of Georgia, this situation requires confirmation of whether county funds provided for the operation of your office and its prosecutorial function were used in an appropriate manner and whether any payments of county funds to Mr. Wade were converted to your personal gain in the form of subsidized travel or other gifts,” Ellis’ letter, obtained by The Washington Post, states.
Wade was hired by Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, as a special prosecutor to bring charges against the former president and 18 others.
They have since been accused of having a romantic relationship, jeopardizing the integrity of the case, an accusation that appears to be backed up by the charges on Wade’s personal card. As well as the flights, in May 2023, Wade ran up a bill of over $800 at the Doubletree Napa Valley American Canyon hotel, according to the filing by Wade’s estranged wife, Jocelyn, seen by The Post.
Napa, Miami, Aruba
The charges were made on Mother’s Day and showed a twonight stay at the Doubletree hotel, just eight miles from several posh Napa Valley wineries.
On Oct. 5, 2022, Wade also paid $477.21 for tickets to Miami for himself and his alleged lover.
Wade also charged a room at the Holiday Inn Express Atlanta on Oct. 9, 2022. And he made purchases from 1-800-Flowers.com, according to the credit-card statements.
Another purchase around the same time was for Royal Caribbean Cruises that cost $2,600, according to the filing, which Jocelyn’s lawyers say was another personal trip for Wade and Wills.
In November 2022, Wade also charged $3,172.20 to Norwegian Cruise Line and made charges at the Hyatt Regency in Aruba.
Allegations of the romance first surfaced last week when Trump co-defendant Mike Roman filed papers to have the criminal charges against him dismissed on the grounds of an “improper” and “clandestine” relationship between Willis and Nathan.
Roman accused Wade — a private attorney with Atlanta-based Wade & Campbell — of using some of the nearly $654,000 in legal fees he collected from the Fulton County DA’s Office for his work on the Trump case to take Willis on getaways to “California, Florida and the Caribbean.”
Ex-wife’s revenge
The filing from Jocelyn’s lawyers is the first time any evidence pointing to a relationship has been presented. It came one day after Willis’ lawyers filed a motion seeking to get her out of sitting for a deposition in the divorce, filed in 2021 in Cobb County, Ga.
They claimed she couldn’t offer relevant testimony in the divorce case and that the marriage was already over by 2017 — before she met Nathan — when Jocelyn admitted to sleeping with Wade’s friend.
The filing didn’t address the validity of the affair claims between Willis and Nathan.
Jocelyn’s lawyer fired back Friday, claiming Willis’ arguments for trying to wriggle out of the deposition are disingenuous.
Willis’ lawyer and lawyers for both Wades didn’t immediately return requests for comment Friday.