Embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis admitted to having a “personal relationship” with lead prosecutor Nathan Wade but said it shouldn’t warrant tossing out the charges against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants.
“In 2022, District Attorney Willis and I developed a personal relationship in addition to our professional association and friendship,” Wade wrote in an affidavit released by Willis’ office in court papers they filed Friday.
But the court papers said there was no “personal relationship” at the time Wade was hired.
“Although District Attorney Willis and Special Prosecutor Wade have been professional associates and friends since 2019, there was no personal relationship between them in November 2021 at the time of Special Prosecutor Wade’s appointment,” the court papers said.
Trump co-defendant Michael Roman last month filed bombshell court papers seeking to have criminal charges dropped against him on conflict-of-interest grounds based on Willis’ alleged “clandestine” romantic relationship with Wade.
The former president and at least one of the other 14 remaining co-defendants charged with trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the Peach State have since joined in Roman’s motion.
Willis reportedly doesn’t have any plans to recuse herself from the case — though a legal expert told The Post Thursday that, while she wouldn’t legally be required to step down, she and Wade should both do so because it’s a “black eye” on her office.
Judge Scott McAfee ordered Willis’ office to respond in writing by Friday, and a hearing was set for Feb. 15 for oral arguments on the matter.
Roman has issued subpoenas for both Willis and Wade to testify at that hearing.
The duo had not previously addressed the affair allegations, though Willis had claimed she is being targeted for racially motivated reasons.
Roman claimed in the Jan. 8 papers that Willis wrongfully appointed an allegedly unqualified Wade to helm the Trump probe at an unusually high salary and she then benefited from his $654,000 in earnings when Wade treated her to getaways, including to California and Miami, Fla.
Some have claimed this amounts to the crime of honest services fraud.
Wade’s divorce was subsequently dragged into the spotlight when his estranged wife, Joycelyn Wade, sought Willis’ deposition in their divorce case on the grounds that Nathan was wrongfully spending his money on his alleged flame while leaving Joycelyn “without any means of financial support.“
Willis’ testimony is no longer being sought in the Wade divorce, as the estranged pair reached a temporary settlement out of court on the eve of a hearing set for Wednesday where Nathan would likely have been asked questions about his alleged girlfriend.
Meanwhile, earlier Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) slapped Willis with a subpoena to hand over documents that could involve her alleged romance.
The Fulton County Board of Commissioners is auditing Willis over allegations she omitted on financial disclosures the trips to which Wade allegedly treated her.
And the Georgia General Assembly is considering legislation that would bring back a commission to discipline and remove prosecutors for misconduct.