Fani Willis admits to relationship with Nathan Wade but dismisses 'irrelevant allegations'

02 February 2024

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has admitted to a personal relationship with a coworker, but insists there's no wrongdoing and is remaining steadfast in her commitment to continue prosecuting former President Donald Trump.

Friday marked the deadline for Willis to respond to allegations of impropriety lodged by Ashleigh Merchant, who is an attorney for Trump co-defendant Mike Roman. Those allegations were inflamed after bank records from Wade's divorce proceedings showed evidence he purchased airline tickets for he and Willis to San Francisco and Aruba. Roman's attorney accused Willis of a possible conflict of interest in her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, and attempted to argue that their relationship was grounds to have them dismissed as prosecutors.

However, according to Atlanta-area news outlet WSB, Willis had no such relationship with Wade at the time of his appointment as special prosecutor in 2021. And she maintains that even though the two have since started dating, the integrity of the case itself has not been compromised.

"[The] attacks on Special Prosecutor Wade’s qualifications are factually inaccurate, unsupported, and malicious, in addition to providing no basis whatsoever to dismiss the indictment or disqualify Special Prosecutor Wade," Willis wrote in her response, adding that she has "no personal conflict of interest that justifies her disqualification personally or that of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office."

Willis' Friday filing also dismissed Merchant's allegations as a hodgepodge of "unremarkable circumstances of Special Prosecutor Wade’s appointment with completely irrelevant allegations about his personal family life into a manufactured conflict of interest on the part of the District Attorney," and reiterated that the call to disqualify her from prosecuting the case was "meritless."

Following Willis' filing, both her office and Merchant will participate in a televised hearing on February 15, where Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee — who is overseeing Willis' RICO case — will make a determination on whether Merchant's allegations of inappropriate behavior are valid.

Since indicting Trump and over a dozen co-defendants last year, Willis has secured guilty pleas from several participants in the alleged conspiracy, including Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell. Other notable co-defendants include former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and January 6 architect John Eastman.

Read WSB's full report here.

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