Should Willis and Nathan Wade recuse, legal experts question whether a new prosecutor would still pursue 'sweeping' charges
Fani Willis’ ‘race-card here is out of line’: Jessica Tarlov
‘The Five’ react to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis accusing critics of racism after allegedly having an ‘improper’ relationship with a top prosecutor on the Trump election interference case.
The chief prosecutor in Georgia spearheading the racketeering case against former President Trump has been having an illicit affair with a lawyer she hired, according to Michael Roman, a Trump co-defendant. Legal experts say the arrangement jeopardizes her legal future.
According to court documents filed earlier this month by Roman, Fani Willis, who brought election interference-related charges against Trump, has been having an "improper" affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute the 2024 GOP frontrunner.
According to the court documents, Wade, who has no RICO and felony prosecution experience, billed taxpayers $654,000 since January 2022.
Roman’s filing alleges that Wade billed Fulton County for 24 hours of work on a single day in November 2021, shortly after being appointed as a special prosecutor, and that Willis financially benefited from her alleged lover’s padded taxpayer-funded salary by taking lavish vacations together on his dime.
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought charges against former President Trump for election interference, is taking heat from all sides. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)
However, John Shu, a constitutional law expert who served in both the George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations, says that while Willis’ and Wade’s apparent improprieties could give her some PR or re-election trouble, it does not automatically mean that Trump’s Peach State legal troubles disappear.
"Her alleged romantic relationship with Wade, which pre-existed her appointing him, is totally improper if it is true," Shu said.
"It raises the serious question as to why Willis needed to appoint Wade as another special prosecutor and supposed RICO expert when she already had hired Georgia’s most prominent RICO expert, John Floyd, in March of 2021," he added.
However, Shu said that "unless the people of Fulton County clamor for their recusal" he does not see them "voluntarily recusing themselves from the case because it would look like they’re admitting wrongdoing."
Shu noted that according to U.S. Supreme Court precedent, a prosecutor’s failure to disclose a romantic relationship with one of her appointees is not considered honest services fraud in and of itself.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade. (Getty Images)
"Hiring one’s romantic partner and knowingly paying his alleged fake bills, however, likely would be considered cheating the county, especially because he is not a RICO expert. Also, Wade would be in hot water if, as alleged, he overbilled fake billable hours and got paid for them," Shu added.
The New York Post reported that Wade was billing the DA’s office nearly double what another prosecutor and RICO expert on the team, John Floyd, billed per hour.
Willis addressed the allegations for the first time at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta on Sunday.
"They only attacked one," she said. "First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now.’
"But no God, isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one," Willis asked.
"You cannot expect Black women to be perfect and save the world," Willis said, adding that "we need to be allowed to stumble. We need grace."
She has not denied the allegations.
Jonathan Turley, former prosecutor and law professor at George Washington University, told Fox News Digital that "these types of allegations are rarely resolved in the wholesale rejection of a criminal case."
Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, inside her office chambers in the Fulton County Justice Center Tower in Atlanta on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. (David Walter Banks/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
However, he said, there are various remedies that the court can order.
"The most obvious is the substitution of the prosecutors. It can also include the removal of the case to a different district. It is rare for the court to treat the underlying criminal case as legally invalid due to the misconduct of the prosecutors," Turley said.
"I think it would be foolish to count on a dismissal of the case based on these allegations. I think it is more reasonable to expect a delay and a possible substitution of prosecutors on the case," he added.
An "interesting dynamic" Turley noted is whether a different prosecutor would pursue Willis’ "sweeping claims."
"Willis is viewed as a highly political district attorney who relished the opportunity to charged Donald Trump."
"I think many prosecutors would have balked at making this type of racketeering case. I think it is a case of overreach. That's not to say that the case itself is without foundation. Many of these defendants are facing credible charges. It's the attempt to link all of these parties into an overarching racketeering conspiracy that has left many of us skeptical," said Turley.
"So the question is, would another prosecutor in good faith move forward on the racketeering claim."
Turley added that the ultimate standard in deciding how the case moves forward is "what is in the public interest."
"I can't imagine how the continued role of either Willis or wade in this case would advance the public interest," he said.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Brianna Herlihy is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
