Prosecutor exits election case
Lawyer steps aside after complaints of relationship with district attorney
A special prosecutor who had a romantic relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis formally withdrew Friday from the Georgia election interference case against former U.S. president Donald Trump after a judge ruled one of them had to leave the case for it to advance.
Lawyer Nathan Wade’s role in the prosecution had come under fire since an attorney representing one of Trump’s co-defendants alleged in early January that Wade and Willis were involved in an inappropriate relationship that resulted in Willis profiting improperly from the prosecution.
Wade offered his resignation in a letter to Willis, saying he was doing so “in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public and to move this case forward as quickly as possible.”
Willis accepted Wade’s resignation, effective immediately. She complimented his “professionalism and dignity,” saying he has “endured threats against you and your family, as well as unjustified attacks in the media and in court on your reputation as a lawyer.”
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had ruled Friday that Wade had to be removed or Willis must step aside from the case. McAfee did not find that Willis’ relationship with Wade amounted to a conflict of interest that should disqualify her from the case. However, he said, the allegations created an “appearance of impropriety” that infected the prosecution team.
The judge also criticized Willis for a “tremendous” lapse of judgment and questioned the truthfulness of Willis and Wade’s testimony about the timing of their relationship.
“As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed,” the judge wrote.
“Put differently, an outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.”
Even though the judge gave Willis the option to stay on the case, the allegations threaten to damage her reputation and taint the public’s perception of the prosecution. Trump and his allies have seized on the allegations to impugn Willis’ credibility as the prosecutors seeking to hold the former president accountable have found themselves under fire.
For weeks, embarrassing headlines about romantic getaways, sex and stashes of cash have consumed the coverage, turning the prosecution of a former president accused of undermining the will of the people who voted him out of the White House into a soap opera.
An attorney for Trump said the former president’s team respects the court’s decision but believes the judge “did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade.”
Willis hired Wade to lead the team to investigate and ultimately prosecute Trump and 18 others on charges that they illegally tried to overturn his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia in 2020. The case uses a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power.
Trump, the Republicans’ presumptive presidential nominee for 2024, has denied doing anything wrong and pleaded not guilty.
Willis and Wade testified at a hearing last month that they had engaged in a romantic relationship that ended last summer, but rejected the idea that Willis improperly benefited from it, as lawyers for Trump and some of his co-defendants alleged. Willis and Wade insisted they didn’t begin dating until after he became special prosecutor, though another a former friend and employee of Willis’ testified that she saw the pair hugging and kissing before he was hired.
McAfee found no showing that the due process rights of Trump and the other defendants had been violated or that the issues involved prejudiced them in any way.
Of the 19 people originally charged in the indictment, four have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors.