Should Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis urgently remove herself from the sweeping Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and others?
Even some of District Attorney Willis’ supporters are contemplating that question in the wake of accusations that she had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, an attorney she hired to help run the Trump prosecution.
Ms. Willis has not yet directly addressed the situation. The case, while in state rather than federal court, involves some of the most consequential criminal indictments facing Mr. Trump – focusing around his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
A co-defendant in the case made the allegation in a court filing earlier this month. Credit card statements included in a separate filing in Mr. Wade’s ongoing divorce case show that he bought airline tickets for himself and Ms. Willis on at least two occasions.
One legal expert who has followed the case closely says that he has not yet seen any evidence that should lead to Ms. Willis’ disqualification. It appears more a political issue about how public money is spent, and less a conflict of interest that would prejudice any of the 2020 election defendants, says Anthony Michael Kreis, an assistant professor in constitutional law and political scientist at Georgia State University College of Law.