Who is Nathan Wade? Fani Willis Accused of Affair With Prosecutor

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been accused of being romantically involved with Nathan Wade, who she hired to work on former President Donald Trump's election subversion case in Georgia.

Willis is leading the criminal racketeering case against Trump over alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state and Wade is a special prosecutor in the case. Trump, the GOP primary front-runner, has pleaded not guilty in the 41-count indictment and denied all wrongdoing.

On Monday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official who is a co-defendant in the case, had a court motion filed on his behalf accusing Willis of involvement with Wade.

Roman was charged in 2023 with seven counts accusing him of participating in a false-electors scheme in efforts to overturn Trump's 2020 election defeat.

The motion filed on his behalf seeks to dismiss the charges against him and for Willis and other members of her staff be disqualified from the case because of the alleged affair, which the filing called "an improper, clandestine personal relationship."

The 127-page filing also claims Wade took vacations with Willis using money he was paid for working on the Trump case, to locations including Napa Valley, California, Florida and the Caribbean. It also claims they are believed to have co-habited but offers no evidence to support the claims. The motion further accuses Willis and Wade of "profiting significantly from this prosecution at the expense of the taxpayers." Wade was paid $654,000 in legal fees for his work on the case, according to multiple reports.

The Journal-Constitution quoted a spokesperson for the district attorney's office as saying there will be a response to Roman's allegations "through appropriate court filings." Newsweek contacted Willis by social media for comment on this story.

"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," the filing said.

Who is Nathan Wade?

Wade was hired in the case in November 2021 by Willis, who The New York Times reported is "an old friend". The motion said he is married and that he filed for divorce a day after his first contract with Willis started.

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

His biography on the website for law firm Wade and Campbell describes Wade as: "a Former Prosecutor and natural born trial Attorney."

It continues: "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 Law.com: "Wade became the first Black male judge in Marietta when he was appointed to the city's municipal court in 2011."

The website also says he ran three times to be a judge in Cobb County Superior Court, between 2012 and 2016, but was unsuccessful on each occasion.

According to the Marietta Daily Journal, Wade's estranged wife's name is Joycelyn Wade, and they have two children together.

Newsweek has contacted Wade via his law firm's website to comment on this story.