Fani Willis’s Affair: There Are Receipts

The likelihood of recusal just increased.

The explosive allegations that could possibly sink Fulton County’s RICO case against Donald Trump, et al. – that she is having an ongoing affair with Nathan Wade, the Special Prosecutor she appointed to persecute Trump – have now been corroborated. On January 8, attorneys for defendant Michael Roman (who faces various charges for challenging the 2020 election) filed this motion, alleging (in part) that Willis and Wade must be disqualified from the case due to ethical violations and prosecutorial abuses due to their affair. Specifically, the attorneys for Roman alleged that DA Willis and Wade:

“have traveled personally together to such places as Napa Valley, Florida, and the Caribbean and the special prosecutor has purchased tickets for both of them to travel on both the Norwegian and Royal Caribbean cruise lines.”

Those were serious allegations. And they were very specific as to the locations they traveled and Wade’s purchase of the tickets. It’s one thing to hear gossip from the Fulton County DA’s office… but how could Roman’s attorneys know all the particulars? Because there are receipts. They all come from Wade’s Cobb County divorce proceedings with his soon to be ex-wife, Joycelyn Wade. Joycelyn has sought to depose Willis as part of the divorce case, alleging that Willis has an ongoing affair with her husband and that Willis would have insight into Nathan Wade’s actions and the marriage itself – knowledge that would help the divorce court divide the marital assets and calculate spousal support. Willis sought a protective order to prevent her deposition and gave implied threats that Joycelyn was obstructing the DA’s investigation of Trump. Yet Willis never denied the affair. And so attorneys for Joycelyn Wade dropped today’s bomb, which included her husband’s credit card statements where trips were purchased for Willis. You can read it here.

Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade has, according to his credit card statements, taken trips to San Francisco and Napa Valley, Florida, gone on a Caribbean cruise, Australia, Panama, and Belize. These trips all took place after he filed for divorce. And Willis – the boss of Nathan Wade, the woman who enriched him by appointing him as Special Prosecutor – joined Wade some of (if not all) of these trips.

Here’s the rundown.

April 25, 2023: Nathan Wade purchases Delta Airlines tickets for himself and Fani Willis. As part of this trip, they apparently traveled to Napa Valley and stayed at the Doubletree hotel. October/November 2022: Reservations for a Norwegian Cruise and for the Aruba Hyatt Regency. October 2022: Two reservations for Royal Caribbean Cruises and three American Airlines tickets to Miami for Nathan Wade, Fani Willis, and Clara Bowman (identified as Wade’s mother). Let’s be clear - this is just the start of the documentation of the affair between Wade and Willis. Not only will more of Wade’s credit card statements be released, but there is a real possibility (we estimate at 70-30) that Fani Willis will be deposed as a witness in the divorce proceeding. She’ll be under oath, and her answers could very well force the recusal of herself and Wade from the Trump case. As we previously reported, there is a glaring ethical violation in Wade’s appointment, as it has served to pay for domestic and international trips for Willis, his supervisor. Compounding the violation is that Wade has been overpaid - his office allegedly receiving nearly $1 million since he was appointed to the case - and that he is, by all accounts, unqualified to prosecute this case. The Georgia Supreme Court agrees, observing a conflict of interest can “arise where the prosecutor has acquired a personal interest or stake in the defendant’s conviction.” Willis and Wade have by February 2, 2024 to respond to the motion by Roman’s attorneys. The court has set an evidentiary hearing on the matter for February 15, 2024. If I’m Roman’s attorney, I’m calling Fani Willis and Nathan Wade to the stand. There could be fireworks - if the court allows their testimony.

Assuming they recuse themselves or are disqualified, what’s next?

We figure it most likely that Fulton County, which has an expressed interest in prosecuting Trump, assigns the case to one of the other attorneys currently assigned to the matter. This would allow the case to go forward.

Or, there’s the potential that an outside lawyer is appointed. That would be the best chance for dismissal, as there are serious concerns with using Georgia’s RICO statute to target Trump and the rest of the defendants. After all, Georgia’s RICO law emphasizes that it should be used to prosecute financial crimes or those involving injury to another - not for challenges to an election. Jonathan Turley explains: “Some prosecutors would likely balk at the tenuous connections used to sweep Trump into this grand conspiracy theory, which many critics believe Willis has pursued for political purposes.”

We’re not sure Fani Willis would allow that. It’s a certainty that she’s already thinking of ways to have this case survive if she has to recuse.