Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis’s case against former President Donald Trump for election interference may be imploding. Recent evidence proving collusion between Willis and the January 6 committee has come to light, along with allegations of an improper relationship with fellow prosecutor Nathan Wade.
The January 6 committee has already come under fire for its one-sided handling of the “investigation.” It has been suggested that “evidence” collected by the January 6 Committee might have violated the rights of defendants and witnesses, and it is already well understood that Nancy Pelosi’s involvement in appointing committee members led to an unfair process, with witnesses facing a one-sided inquiry, even those Republicans opposing Trump.
But that was not the end of Trump’s persecution at the hands of the January 6 committee. It appears that Willis worked with the committee to gather information she would later use to bludgeon Trump, then used a procedural maneuver to hide her collaboration from Trump’s defense team.
In mid-April 2022, the January 6 Committee staff quietly met with lawyers and agents working for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The committee aides allowed the district attorney’s team to review, though not retain, a limited set of evidence they had gathered.
This previously undisclosed meeting occurred as Willis prepared to convene a special grand jury investigation. Interestingly, the committee cooperated with Willis’s probe while rejecting the Justice Department’s requests for material in the federal criminal investigation of Trump’s alleged election subversion.
The committee’s preference for cooperation with the local investigation was partly due to concerns that federal prosecutors might be required to disclose evidence in ongoing criminal cases related to the January 6 Capitol attack.
The chairman of the January 6 committee, Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), did not deny the allegations and acknowledged “staff-level contacts” between the committee and Fulton County prosecutors. However, in early April 2022, almost two weeks before the committee’s staff met with the prosecutors, Thompson indicated to reporters that he wasn’t fully aware of the extent of those contacts. Thompson also claimed not to have known about the in-person visit that occurred in the spring between the committee’s staff and the Fulton County prosecutors.
Because the evidence was concealed from Trump’s defense team, they could not access it for the legally required discovery process. The extent of evidence withheld from Trump’s lawyers will never be known because the January 6 committee destroyed records of their investigation. Without the records, there can be no motion for discovery from Trump’s team.
This throws Willis’ case into a procedural tailspin, endangering her entire prosecution.
As Trump’s legal team digested this revelation, another appeared. Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for Trump campaign aide and co-defendant Michael Roman, alleged that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had a romantic involvement with her office’s special prosecutor, Nathan Wade. Wade has reportedly been paid $654,000 for his work on the case. Merchant has filed a motion that Willis has illegally benefitted from her arrangement with Wade and that both should be removed from the case.
Wade filed for divorce in November 2021, coinciding with his contract start with Willis. The divorce details were sealed in February 2022. According to Roman’s motion, Willis and Wade had a personal relationship, and Willis made Wade’s appointment without proper approval. The motion claims that Wade is paid much more than others in the office, and the happy couple used the funds for taxpayer-funded vacations.
Although Willis denies all allegations, she has been subpoenaed to appear at Wade’s upcoming divorce trial.
Trump’s defense team had heard rumors about Willis’ romantic ties to Wade but had nothing specific until Merchant revealed her findings in her motion. The Trump team is now considering how to manage these allegations in court, with some legal and political advisers discussing the possibility of assigning a team to investigate Willis’ relationship with fellow prosecutor Wade.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) began pressing Willis for additional information regarding her politically motivated prosecution of Trump. In a letter dated September 27, 2023, Jordan sent a letter to Willis addressing his concerns that Willis’ prosecution was being conducted for political motivations and to advance her career. It now seems he has something concrete for his concerns.
Critics argue that the findings will not affect the case, with some suggesting that her improper dalliance is nothing more than a Human Resources headache. But some liberals are uneasy, knowing that these two bombshell revelations could have a devastating impact on Willis’ carefully planned witch hunt.
