A co-defendant of former President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of having about a “half-dozen” conflicts of interest arising from her relationship with her special counsel.
Jeffrey Clark, a former acting attorney general under President Trump who was charged in the Georgia election case, filed a court motion in the disqualification bid targeting Ms. Willis over her relationship with special counsel Nathan Wade, which was first revealed in January. Another Trump case co-defendant accused the two of being in an improper relationship in which she financially benefited. The two attorneys denied the latter allegation but confirmed the relationship.
A Fulton County judge overseeing the Trump case and the disqualification effort, Scott McAfee, will rule on whether she should be disqualified sometime in the next week.
An attorney for Mr. Clark wrote that “Nathan Wade obviously lied under oath in his testimony on February 15, 2024 when he was attempting to explain his obviously false interrogatory responses in his divorce case,” referring to his statements during the court hearing.
The attorney argued, meanwhile, that Ms. Willis and her staff bear some responsibility for allowing perjury after Mr. Wade’s testimony during the hearing. Further, Mr. Clark’s lawyer said that because Mr. Wade allegedly lied under oath, Ms. Willis’ office should have done something about it.
“We are now 20 days past that testimony. In that intervening period, the District Attorney has said and done nothing whatsoever to either disavow Mr. Wade’s perjured testimony or require him to correct it,” the filing continued. “This is a spectacular breach before all the world of her duty as District Attorney to ‘faithfully and impartially and without fear, favor, or affection discharge my duties as district attorney.’”
Ms. Willis’ “professional judgment has not been merely impaired by her conflicts of interest, it has been corrupted beyond redemption,” reads the motion.
Alleged Perjury
During multiple hearings in the past several weeks, attorneys for President Trump and some of his co-defendants had also accused Mr. Willis and Mr. Wade of lying on the witness stand about when their relationship began, and told Judge McAfee that keeping the district attorney on the case threatens to undermine the public’s confidence in the hugely consequential prosecution.
“Think of the message that would be sent if they were not disqualified,” said Harry MacDougald, the attorney representing Mr. Clark in the election case, last week. “If this is tolerated, we will get more of it. This office is a global laughingstock because of their conduct.”
While on the witness stand, Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade denied allegations that their relationship started earlier than 2022. But at least one witness, who was Ms. Willis’ landlord and a former friend, said she saw them engaged in hugging and kissing as early as 2019. An analysis of Mr. Wade’s cellphone data that was submitted to the court also suggested that he visited the neighborhood where her condo was located a number of times and made thousands of texts and phone calls to her before 2022.
But Ms. Willis’ office said the lawyers have failed to provide evidence that the district attorney benefited financially from the relationship with Mr. Wade, which the pair say ended last summer.
Adam Abbate, a prosecutor with the district attorney’s office, accused the defense attorneys of pushing “speculation and conjecture” and trying to embarrass the district attorney with questions on the witness stand that Mr. Abbate said had nothing to do with the conflict of interest question. “It’s a desperate attempt to remove a prosecutor from a case for absolutely no reason, your honor, other than harassment and embarrassment,” he said.
