Fani Willis Paid Nathan Wade From Confiscated Property Fund: Lawyer

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis paid the chief prosecutor in former President Donald Trump's election fraud trial out of her seized property fund for the first three months he was hired, a defense lawyer has claimed in court documents and before a Georgia Senate committee.

Ashleigh Merchant, attorney for co-defendant Michael Roman, a Trump 2020 campaign staffer, said in court documents that Nathan Wade's first three months of work as a special prosecutor were paid from the district attorney's seized property fund before he was paid from a general fund.

She reiterated that claim before a Georgia Senate Special Investigations Committee hearing on Wednesday and added an accusation that other special prosecutors were initially paid from the seized property fund.

A Fulton County District Attorney's Office spokesman vehemently denied to Newsweek on Wednesday that Wade had been paid from the seized property fund.

Willis and Wade testified in February that they were previously in a relationship but insist that relationship began after Willis hired him to oversee the prosecution of Trump and his co-accused, who were indicted for allegedly trying to overthrow the Georgia result of the 2020 presidential election.

The pair denied in their testimony that they had tried to cover up their relationship until Wade was hired to prosecute the Trump case.

Wade earned an average of $25,149 a month for his first 26 months on the case despite never having prosecuted a felony, a Newsweek review of his invoices has found.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges against him and has said the case is politically motivated because he is the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.

Invoices and work contracts disclosed to Trump's co-accused, Michael Roman, show that Wade was earning over $31,000 a month from July to November 2023 inclusive and has been on a rate of $250 an hour for the last two years.

No invoices are yet available for 2024.

Willis and Wade are under renewed pressure after a Georgia prosecutor offered to testify against her.

Last month, Willis gave evidence in a two-day hearing following accusations by Merchant that Willis was in a relationship with Wade. Merchant also alleged the pair had benefited financially from taxpayers' money.

The timeline of their relationship has emerged as a key point of contention, and Merchant has said it started earlier than they admitted. Trump's lawyers examined phone records alleging the pair were in a relationship before the Georgia election fraud case began.

Newsweek emailed two attorneys in Willis' office for comment on Tuesday. Newsweek also sent an email to Wade and an attorney for Donald Trump for comment on Tuesday.

Invoices disclosed by Willis' office show that from November 1, 2021, to December 31st, 2023, Wade earned $653,881 in total for the case.

For his monthly invoices to Willis, Wade's title is listed as "the Anti-Corruption Special Prosecutor."

Wade's monthly invoices increased to over $30,000 a month in 2022 and have mostly stayed at that level since.

Recent invoices obtained by Roman's defense team through an open records request show that, for July 2023, Willis paid Wade $35,250 at $250 an hour.

That includes a "team meeting, drafting" that accounts for 33 hours of work, which totaled $8,250, and "team argument and prep" for 32 hours which totaled $8,000.

"Travel out of state and interview witness" lasted 18 hours for a total of $4,500.

Wade earned $35,000 in August 2023; $34,250 in September; $37,000 in October. That dropped to $16,000 in November for a July-November average of $31,500.

In a court filing on Monday, Cindi Lee Yeager, a co-chief deputy district attorney for the Cobb County, Georgia, district attorney's office, said that attorney Terrence Bradley told her Willis and Wade's relationship began earlier than they stated.

Yaeger claimed that Bradley had in the past told her that Wade and Willis met and started their romantic relationship in 2019 and Willis had told Bradley to keep it quiet.

Wade and Willis strongly deny any wrongdoing and Willis told a church service in Atlanta in January that she and Wade are victims of racism by Trump and his supporters.

Update 03/06/24, 5:15 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include Merchant's assertions before a Georgia Senate hearing and to include a denial of her assertions by the Fulton County District Attorney's Office.