ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, former President Donald Trump took another aim at Fulton County DA Fani Willis, under fire from accusations of an improper, romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
“She gave him a million bucks to go get Trump, and then they go on vacations, spending the million bucks,” the nation’s 45th president said Sunday night. “The nice thing is, it gets exposed. Eventually, it gets exposed … See, when the system works, it’s a beautiful thing.”
Trump also said he “can’t imagine they can go forward with that case.”
Willis is the locally elected district attorney who issued dozens of indictments in August 2023 accusing Trump and his allies of trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
The indictments say Trump and his allies suggested Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, could find enough votes for him to win the battleground state; harassed an election worker who faced false claims of fraud; and attempted to persuade Georgia lawmakers to ignore the will of voters and appoint a new slate of electors favorable to Trump.
One of the 19 people charged in Willis’ indictment is Michael Roman, a former White House aide who served as the director of Trump’s election day operations. Prosecutors allege Roman was involved in efforts to put forth a set of fake electors after the 2020 election, a charge to which Roman has pleaded not guilty.
Last week, Roman and his attorney Ashleigh Merchant accused Willis of having a “personal, romantic relationship” with Wade. Roman also claims Willis and Wade benefited financially from the alleged relationship.
Also on Sunday, Willis made her first public comments since the accusations, speaking at Atlanta’s oldest black church, Big Bethel AME.
But Willis never confirmed or denied the accusations, or mentioned Wade by name.
Wade himself was in court Friday was in court Friday for the latest round of hearings over former Trump’s Georgia indictment. During that court hearing, Trump’s Georgia attorney Steven Sadow warily pondered the idea of jumping on board.
“I’m leery of moving to adopt motions that make such allegations, without having a better understanding or substantiation of the allegations,” he said, addressing the courtroom via video call on Friday. “It’s one thing to adopt a motion that brings up a matter of law. This is different.”
In the end, Sadow decided he would wait until Wade and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office filed their response to the allegations. The district attorney’s office declined to say when they would be filing their response.
Also last week, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan the chairman of the powerful U.S. House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Wade, requesting his cooperation “with our oversight.”
“Although Ms. Willis has so far refused to cooperate with our oversight of the FCDAO’s coordination with other politically motivated prosecutions, invoices that you submitted for payment by the FCDAO, and made public as part of this court filing, highlight this collusion,” Jordan wrote.
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