Former President Donald Trump’s attorney argued Wednesday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ defense to allegations that she injected racial prejudice into the proceedings was “disingenuous at best, and an outright lie at worst.”
Trump previously argued statements’ Willis made on Jan. 14 at Big Bethel AME Church, where she claimed allegations that she improperly benefited from appointing her alleged romantic partner Nathan Wade were due to racism, should be grounds for her disqualification and the case’s dismissal. Willis responded in a court filing Friday that Trump raised no “serious legal argument” and made no effort to link her statements to “the legal standard for disqualification.” (RELATED: Fani Willis’ Defense Of ‘Relationship’ With Special Prosecutor Doesn’t Quite Add Up)
“Her claim utterly lacks plausibility,” Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Our filing argues persuasively that, contrary to the DA’s response, Georgia law authorizes and compels the disqualification of the DA for her extrajudicial prosecutorial comments in violation of her special ethical responsibilities as a prosecutor.”
The Wednesday filing states that not “a single reporter, journalist, or media outlet has expressed the slightest bit of doubt that the DA’s racially invective comments were in direct response to Roman’s allegations in his court filing and were directed at the defendants and defense counsel.”
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis confirmed a personal relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade in a court filing Friday, though denied the relationship provided her with any financial benefit.@DailyCaller https://t.co/7QTbmdbl0l
— Katelynn Richardson (@katesrichardson) February 2, 2024
“Maybe what the DA expects this Court to do is to acquiesce in, and accept at face value, her proclamation that she is unlike all other prosecutors,” the filing continues. “That this DA is somehow something special. That this DA must be treated differently. That the ethical rules, and laws, simply don’t apply to this DA. That this DA alone can make prejudicial out-of-court racially partisan and invidious statements about this case, defense counsel, and the defendants whenever she pleases, in clear violation of her ethical duties as a prosecutor, and therefore that this Court is powerless to punish her by dismissal of the case and her disqualification, and instead may only seek to undo the substantial prejudice she creates during voir dire.”
During her speech, Willis also falsely claimed that she paid all three special prosecutors working on the Trump case the same hourly rate. Billing statements and contracts obtained by the Daily DCNF revealed she paid John Floyd, who is known as the state’s top racketeering expert, less than Wade.
Willis confirmed in her Friday filing that she had a “personal relationship” with Wade, though she denied financially benefiting from it. In an affidavit, Wade claimed the relationship did not begin until after he was hired.
Co-defendant Michael Roman said in a response that witnesses would testify to the contrary during a Feb. 15 hearing before Judge Scott McAfee.
“Some of the individuals whom Mr. Roman has subpoenaed to testify have personal knowledge that Wade and Willis’ personal relationship began before his appointment as a special prosecutor,” Roman’s motion stated. “In other words, they have knowledge that the assertion by Willis in the State’s response and in Wade’s affidavit are both false.”
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