Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting former President Donald Trump and others, was accused last month of improperly hiring Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade, with whom she was having an alleged undisclosed romantic affair, and of improperly benefiting financially from the arrangement by way of paid-for vacations, hotel stays, transportation, and other gifts and items of value.
Now Willis and Wade have been further accused of lying -- in Wade's case, in a sworn affidavit filed with the court -- about when their initially denied but since-admitted romantic relationship began, the Daily Mail reported.
The new accusations were publicly revealed just days ahead of a scheduled evidentiary hearing on Feb. 15, in which presiding Judge Scott McAfee will consider requests that Willis and Wade, along with the entire Fulton County DA's Office, be disqualified from the case and for all criminal charges to be dropped.
The bombshell accusations of impropriety and misconduct on the part of DA Willis and Wade were first leveled last month by co-defendant Michael Romans and his attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, and included the claim that Willis and Wade were surreptitiously dating each other when Wade was hired as a special prosecutor by Willis.
In a sworn affidavit in response to the allegations, Wade admitted that he had been involved in a "personal relationship" but asserted that it didn't begin until some unspecified point in 2022, months after he was initially hired by Willis in November 2021.
Willis does not appear to have similarly openly affirmed the existence of the romantic relationship, but did argue in a response filing with the court that "any personal relationship among members of the prosecution team does not amount to a disqualifying conflict of interest or otherwise harm a criminal defendant."
Now, in a 122-page reply brief filed by Merchant on behalf of Romans, it was alleged that evidence and witness testimony could prove that Wade had been dishonest with the court in terms of his estimation of when his acknowledged relationship with DA Willis began, as they are purported to have first started dating even before Willis took office, much less when she hired Wade nearly a year later.
"Willis and Wade claim they did not have a personal, romantic relationship before Willis appointed Wade as a special prosecutor," the filing stated, but that claim is allegedly refuted by Terrance Bradley, a friend and former law partner of Wade who "has non-privileged, personal knowledge that the romantic relationship between Wade and Willis began prior to Willis being sworn as the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia in January 2021."
"Thus, Bradley can confirm that Willis contracted with Wade after Wade and Willis began a romantic relationship, thus rebutting Wade’s claim in
his affidavit that they did not start dating until 2022," the brief continued.
Bradley, who served briefly as Wade's divorce attorney -- Wade filed for divorce from his wife the day after Willis hired him -- was said to have "obtained this information in a personal capacity as Wade’s friend prior to Wade’s decision to file for divorce," and did not infringe upon any attorney-client privileges.
Further refuting the denials from Willis and Wade and their defenders, the filing further asserted, "Bradley also has personal knowledge that Wade and Willis regularly stayed together at her home until Willis’ father moved into her home sometime in 2020."
Local NBC affiliate WXIA reported that the new filing also revealed additional undisclosed trips taken together by DA Willis and Wade, which Wade paid thousands of dollars for, that included multiple cruise vacations and visits to various Caribbean islands and Central American nations, as well as various vacation spots in the U.S.
"It is evident that the district attorney and her personally-appointed special prosecutor have enriched themselves off this case," the filing further argued. "That enrichment has taken various forms, not the least of which is incredible amounts of money paid to Wade by Willis that has, in turn, resulted in Willis’ personal financial benefit in the form of vacations, hotel stays and the like that have nothing to do with this case or her official duties as a prosecutor."
Local Fox affiliate WAGA reported that the brief bluntly claimed, "Since Willis and Wade were not forthright about their relationship in the first instance, there is no reason to believe they are telling the truth now."
