Fani Willis, the district attorney prosecuting Trump’s election interference case in Georgia, admitted in a court filing Friday that she had a “personal relationship” with the prosecutor she hired to handle the case but insisted there are “no grounds to dismiss the case or to remove her from the prosecution.”
“To be absolutely clear, the personal relationship between Special Prosecutor Wade and District Attorney Willis has never involved direct or indirect financial benefit to District Attorney Willis,” Willis said in a court filing.
According to The Associated Press, Willis requested that Superior Court Scott McAfee deny Michael Roman’s motion to remove her, Wade, and the district attorney’s office from the case, and cancel the hearing scheduled for Feb. 15, when Willis and Wade may be called to testify.
Wade has also denied any conflict of interest.
“In 2022, District Attorney Willis and I developed a personal relationship in addition to our professional association and friendship,” Wade said in court documents filed on Friday. “I have no financial interest in the outcome of the 2020 election interference case or in the conviction of any defendant.”
The romantic relationship reportedly began in 2022 after Willis hired Wade to supervise the extensive racketeering probe and prosecution of the former president and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Trump and several other attorneys, campaign officials, and election workers were charged over their alleged efforts to overturn 2020 election results in the state.
An attorney for former Trump campaign official Michael Roman requested the court disqualify Willis, Wade, and the entire district attorney’s office due to the alleged relationship. Wade is also accused of using some of the more than $650,000 he’s been paid to take Willis to California, Florida, and Caribbean cruises.
Wade, however, denied living with Willis or sharing a financial account or household expenses with her, according to the Associated Press. Additionally, he insisted that no funds paid to him as part of the job had been shared with Willis.
Wade described himself and Willis as “both financially independent professionals; expenses or personal travel were roughly divided equally between us.”
Steve Sadow, an attorney for Trump, said the latest news has no bearing on his legal strategy.” Nothing has changed,” Sadow said. “Our requested remedy remains clear: dismiss the case and disqualify the DA, together with her team and office, from any related matters.”
Trump and Republicans in Georgia and in Congress have capitalized on allegations concerning the relationship between Willis and Wade as a means to question the validity of the case. In a subpoena issued Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, sought documents about Willis’s spending of federal funds.
Willis stated in her Atlanta filing on Friday that Roman had failed to show any conflict of interest that should have led her to recuse herself from the case.
“While the allegations raised in the various motions are salacious and garnered the media attention they were designed to obtain, none provide this Court with any basis upon which to order the relief they seek,” Willis said in the 167-page document. “Unequivocally, the evidence and facts demonstrate that District Attorney Willis has no financial conflict of interest that constitutes a legal basis for disqualification.”