ATLANTA >> The estranged wife of a special prosecutor accused of having a romantic relationship with Fani Willis, the Atlanta district attorney who hired him, offered evidence Friday that Willis accompanied him on trips unrelated to their work: leading the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump.
A court filing from Joycelyn Wade, who is in divorce proceedings with the prosecutor, Nathan Wade, included what it said were statements for a credit card account belonging to him. The statements showed that he bought plane tickets for himself and Willis, including tickets to San Francisco from Atlanta purchased April 25, 2023, and to Miami from Atlanta purchased Oct. 4, 2022.
The release of the credit card statements follows a motion filed last week by Michael Roman, one of Trump’s 14 co-defendants in the Georgia case. That motion, which did not include any proof, claimed that Willis was having a romantic relationship with Wade that began before she hired him in 2021 to manage the high-profile case. The motion also said that Wade, who has been paid more than $650,000 by the district attorney’s office, paid for vacations with Willis.
The motion argued that Willis and Wade had violated state rules of professional conduct, as well as local and federal law, and had created a conflict of interest that should result in both of them, and Willis’ office, being removed from the case.
The credit card statements appear to give weight to some of the claims in Roman’s motion, which said that Wade and Willis “have traveled personally together to such places as Napa Valley, Florida and the Caribbean” and that Wade “has purchased tickets for both of them to travel on both the Norwegian and Royal Caribbean cruise lines.”
Adding to the scrutiny of the prosecutors, the chair of the audit committee of the Fulton County board of commissioners sent a letter to Willis on Friday demanding that she turn over information about payments to special prosecutors and their professional experience.
The committee chair, Bob Ellis, wrote that it was necessary to determine whether county funds “were used in an appropriate manner, and whether any payments of county funds to Mr. Wade were converted to your personal gain in the form of subsidized travel or other gifts.”
Willis, who is Black, has drawn significant national attention for her prosecution of Trump, who has attacked her as a “racist” and once made an unfounded allegation — promptly refuted by Willis — that she was “having an affair” with a “gang member.”
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