Georgia DA Fani Willis Accused of Going on Cruises With Special Prosecutor in Trump Case

Nathan Wade is a private attorney in Georgia who is accused of having a romantic relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis while working as a special prosecutor in the case Willis filed against former President Donald Trump and his associates.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the accusations were lodged in a public court filing by the attorney for Michael Roman, who is arguing the charges are unconstitutional.

Update: On January 19, Joycelyn Wade filed a new motion in the divorce case that accuses Fani Willis of having a romantic relationship with her estranged husband. The motion attached receipts that show Nathan Wade purchasing airline tickets for himself and Willis, according to that motion. On the same day, Willis filed a motion seeking to quash Joycelyn Wade’s subpoena against her and accusing Joycelyn Wade of harassing her.

You can read more details about the January 19 filings here, as well as see the receipts.

That filing can be read in full here. Heavy obtained it from the office of Roman’s attorney Ashleigh Merchant.

According to the Hill, Trump said on January 9, “You had a very big event yesterday as you saw in Georgia where the district attorney is totally compromised. The case has to be dropped.”

The accusation is that Willis chose Wade as a special prosecutor out of normal procedure and the financially benefited because he paid for trips with her after receiving county funds.

Willis has not responded to the accusations, other than to say through a spokeswoman that she will respond “through appropriate court filings,” according to AJC. Wade did not respond to a request for comment made by the New York Post or AJC. AJC reported that Wade “had helped bring the indictment and stood next to District Attorney Fani Willis as she publicly announced the charges during an Aug. 14 press conference.”

The court documents, which included Wade’s invoices, also say he met with the Biden White House twice while special prosecutor.

“Roman worked as director of Election Day operations for the Trump campaign in 2020,” AJC reported, adding that Roman is accused of seven felony counts tied to his alleged role in “helping organize slates of Trump electors in battleground states.” He has entered not guilty pleas.

The court filing zeroes in on the alleged relationship as grounds to dismiss the case, but it does not offer proof.

“The district attorney chose to appoint her romantic partner, who at all times relevant to this prosecution has been a married man,” the filing alleges.

“Admittedly, this is a bold allegation considering it is directed to one of the most powerful people in the State of Georgia, the Fulton County District Attorney,” it says.

“Nevertheless, the district attorney’s fame and power do not change the fact that she decided to appoint as the special prosecutor a person with whom she had a personal relationship and who is now leading the day-to-day prosecution of this case. Even assuming this type of nepotism might be forgiven in the abstract, a review of the amount of money that the special prosecutor has been paid by the district attorney and the personal activities of the district attorney and the special prosecutor during the pendency of this prosecution shed light on just how self-serving this arrangement has been.”

The filing asks the judge to “disqualify Willis, Wade and their respective offices and firms from any further involvement in the prosecution of this matter.”

Here’s what you need to know:

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1. The Court Filing Accuses Fani Willis of Traveling With Nathan Wade on Cruise Ships & to Napa Valley But Doesn’t Offer Concrete Proof

The Journal-Constitution reported that the filing accuses Willis of having “improperly hired an alleged romantic partner to prosecute Donald Trump and financially benefited from their relationship.”

The filing alleges that “since being appointed as special prosecutor, the special prosecutor has been paid an estimated almost $1,000,000.00 in legal fees.” However, The New York Post reported that the amount Wade received was nearly $654,000 in legal fees.

According to AJC, Willis authorized Wade’s compensation.

AJC reported that the filing “offers no concrete proof of the romantic ties between Willis and Wade,” but says it alleges that “sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney have confirmed they had an ongoing, personal relationship.”

The filing, which contains spelling errors, accuses Willis and Wade of having “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 Norweigan and Royal Carribean cruise lines. Traveling together to such places as Washington, D.C. or New York City might make sense for work purposes in light of other pending litigation, but what work purpose could only be served by travel to this traditional vacation destinations?”

The filing accuses Wade of having “purchased hotel rooms for personal trips with funds from the same account used to receive payments under his contract with Willis.”

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2. Nathan J. Wade Is a Former Prosecutor Who Serves as an Associate Municipal Court Judge

Wade’s biography on the law firm website for Campbell and Wade says that Nathan J. Wade is “a Former Prosecutor and natural born trial Attorney, Nathan J. Wade is a seasoned attorney licensed to practice in all of Georgia’s courts. He is a skilled negotiator who knows when to take a case to trial.”

According to that bio, “He serves the citizens of Cobb County as Associate Municipal Court Judge and as a Pro Has State Court Judge.”

The bio continues:

Whether you are in need of representation after a major car accident or are going through a change in your personal life that requires representation with a family law issue; whether you have a contract dispute, or whether you are involved in any type of civil litigation, Nathan J. Wade will be a zealous advocate for you.

As a private practitioner for many years and a recently appointed Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Georgia, Nathan J. Wade has been recognized by his peers with numerous awards for his excellence as an attorney and for his service to his community, to include Georgia’s Top Lawyer/Legal Elite award and the Justice Robert Benham Award for Community Service.

The filing also states, “The special prosecutor’s oath of office was never filed.” It accuses Wade of having “never tried a felony RICO case” and notes that Roman’s lawyer was “unable to find any history of, Wade ever having prosecuted a single felony trial,

The New York Times reported that Wade was an old friend of Willis’s in an article that describes how he wasn’t her first choice as special prosecutor.

According to Law.com, “Wade became the first Black male judge in Marietta when he was appointed to the city’s municipal court in 2011.”

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3. Nathan Wade, Who Ran Unsuccessfully for Judge 3 Times, Has a Sealed Divorce Filing With Estranged Wife Joycelyn Wade, the Documents Say

Law.com reported that Wade ran in “three unsuccessful bids for a seat on the Cobb County Superior Court bench between 2012 and 2016.”

An article in the Marietta Daily Journal says that Wade’s estranged wife’s name is Joycelyn Wade, and they have two children together.

According to the filing, the special prosecutor “is seeking a divorce in Cobb County and sought successfully to seal those records, hiding them from public view.” The filing states that “it is not entirely clear when the relationship began, but it began while Wade was married. On November 2, 2021, a day after his first contract with Willis commenced, Wade filed for divorce in Cobb County Superior Court.”

The filing alleges that “the district attorney and the special prosecutor have been seen in private together in and about the Atlanta area and believed to have co-habited in some form or fashion at a location owned by neither of them.”

It continues: “Sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney have confirmed they had an ongoing, personal relationship during the pendency of the special prosecutor’s divorce proceedings. According to these sources, the personal relationship between the district attorney and the special prosecutor began before this prosecution was initiated and before the district attorney appointed the special prosecutor.”

The filing accuses the DA and special prosecutor of having a conflict interest which may be “an act to defraud the public of honest services” since the district attorney “personally benefitted from an undisclosed conflict of interest” which “is a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1346 as well as a predicate act which could result in a RICO charge against both the district attorney and the special prosecutor.”

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4. The Motion Accuses Fani Willis of Using Fulton County Funds Designed to Clear a COVID Backlog to ‘Hire a Private Special Prosecutor,’ Nathan Wade

The motion accuses Willis of using COVID backlog funding to pay for Wade’s work as a special prosecutor.

“Normally, the district attorney’s use of funds allotted pursuant to a county’s prior approval would not be newsworthy or legally actionable,” the filing states.

“But this case is different. The district attorney sought additional funds from Fulton County to clear the Covid backlog, including making a detailed presentation to the Board of Commissioners in 2021, and she ultimately received that funding from Fulton County,” it adds.

“But she has not used those funds for that purpose. She apparently has used them to prosecute this case. Even assuming that were proper and could be forgiven, even within the contours of this prosecution, there is a separate and very important concern about her use of the money,” it says.

“As the layers unfold, it becomes clear that the district attorney and the special prosecutor have been profiting personally from this prosecution at Fulton County’s expense. Instead of handling this case within her office, as she could have done given the influx of Covid money, she chose to hire a private special prosecutor to preside over the case.”

The filing notes, “Under Georgia law, the district attorney was required to obtain Fulton County’s approval prior to appointing the special prosecutor to work on the case. The reason for this requirement is simple; it ensures that the district attorney cannot act unilaterally with regard to public monies and is subject to the control and supervision of the governing body, i.e., Fulton County so that the public has confidence in how the money is used. Undersigned counsel has found no evidence that the district attorney sought or received such approval to appoint the special prosecutor from Fulton County.”

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5. Fani Willis Is Divorced From Fred Willis & Previously Denied Having a Relationship With a Gang Member

Willis was married once, to Fred Willis, but they are divorced, and she does not currently have a husband. She has two adult children, both daughters. She told South Atlanta Magazine that she was a single mother for much of her career.

Time Magazine reported that Willis and her husband divorced in 2005.

She spotted her future husband, who was “working an extra job as a videographer,” on the “day she took the bar exam,” Time Magazine reported.

It’s not the first time that she’s been accused of an inappropriate romantic entanglement.

Willis said earlier accusations she had a relationship with a gang member are “derogatory and false,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The accusations, shared by former President Trump in a campaign speech and ad, in which he did not provide evidence for them, may stem from comments made in a January 2023 Rolling Stone article by YSL Mondo, who helped found the Young Stoner Life music crew with Young Thug, according to the magazine. YSL Mondo says Willis had worked as his defense attorney in the past, according to the magazine. Willis is prosecuting Young Thug and other defendants in a high-profile racketeering case.

The separate Young Thug case involves the murder of Donovan “Big Nut” Thomas, “a senior ranking Inglewood Blood gang member,” according to Atlanta Magazine.

The name Donovan Thomas has also been tied to Willis in unproven accusations on Reddit and TikTok and by podcaster DJ Akademiks in a Twitch stream. Akademiks, who has expressed support for Trump, did not provide evidence for the accusations.

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