Fani Willis Faces Being Disqualified From Donald Trump Case

There are calls for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to be disqualified from Donald Trump's Georgia election-interference case, following unsubstantiated allegations she has been involved in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade. He was hired as a special prosecutor for the proceedings.

The claim was made by Michael Roman, one of Trump's co-defendants, in a legal motion filed on Monday. It seeks to have his seven charges dismissed and Willis and her staff members disqualified from the case. Newsweek reached out to the Fulton County District Attorney's office and representatives of Trump for comment by email on Tuesday.

In August 2023, Trump and 18 others were indicted in Georgia over claims they broke the law while attempting to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 presidential election victory in the state. The former president is facing 13 criminal charges in Georgia including an accusation that he violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, initially introduced to combat organized crime. Trump has pled not guilty to all counts and has repeatedly said that the case against him is politically motivated.

Reacting on his Truth Social website, Trump called for all the charges in the Georgia case to be dropped following the allegations against Willis.

The former president wrote: "ALL CHARGES AGAINST ME, AND OTHERS, SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY DROPPED, WITH APOLOGIES, AND MONETARY DAMAGES FOR THE ILLEGAL AND HIGHLY POLITICAL PERSECUTION OF INNOCENT PEOPLE."

Writing on microblogging website Threads, defense attorney and legal commentator Ken White said the allegations against Willis are "potentially catastrophic for the Fulton County case." Any collapse of the Georgia case would be a major win for Trump, who, polling indicates, is by some margin the lead Republican candidate for the party's 2024 presidential nomination.

Monday's filing accuses Willis of having "engaged in a personal, romantic relationship" with Wade, prior to the prosecutor being brought onto the case for which he was paid around $650,000 in what it termed a "self-serving arrangement." Newsweek has been as yet unable to verify these claims.

The 127-page document, filed by Roman's attorney Ashleigh Merchant, said: "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."

The filing added: "Accordingly, the district attorney and the special prosecutor have violated laws regulating the use of public monies, suffer from irreparable conflicts of interest, and have violated their oaths of office under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct and should be disqualified from prosecuting this matter."

Roman's filing also said that Wade took vacations with Willis, which were funded by payments his company received from Fulton County for working on the Trump case.

Referring to the case, the filing said: "Willis has benefitted substantially and directly, and continues to benefit, from this litigation because Wade is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to prosecute this case on her behalf.

"In turn, Wade is taking Willis on, and paying for vacations across the world with money he is being paid by the Fulton County taxpayers and authorized solely by Willis," the filing added.

When approached by ABC News for comment, a spokesperson for the Fulton County district attorney's office said they would "respond through appropriate court filings."

In a post on Threads, White, who runs the 'Popehat Report' legal blog, wrote: "This Fani Willis thing is potentially catastrophic for the Fulton County case and will be a gigantic propaganda victory for Trump."

In an interview with The Washington Times, Georgia criminal lawyer Andrew Fleishman said the state's Prosecuting Attorneys' Council could choose to disqualify Willis from the case, replacing her with a new district attorney who "may wash their hands of it."