Former special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s team interrupted his interview Wednesday with CNN host Kaitlan Collins the moment she pressed him on the timeline of his relationship with Fani Willis.
Wade resigned from working on the Georgia election interference case against presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in March after Judge Scott McAfee ruled that either he or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her and entire office would have to step down from the prosecution. Collins pressed Wade about the timeline of his romantic affair with Willis before Wade’s team stopped the former special counsel short to pull him aside.
“What is your current relationship with the district attorney?” Collins asked.
“Oh, just as I outlined earlier. We are great friends. We speak regularly,” Wade said. “Uh, you know, the conversation has changed though. You know, whereas before, we, our conversations were about this case. Um, you could, I’m sure you could imagine and appreciate the amount of time that it takes that, you know, you have to pour into uh, a case, uh, trying uh, a case of this magnitude trying to prosecute the defendants. But, uh, our conversations have shifted to, ‘How are you? How are you handling, uh, the threats that are coming your way? Are you being safe? Um, and, you know… democracy. The case will live on.” (RELATED: Nathan Wade Says Affair With Fani Willis ‘As American As Apple Pie’)
“Just to clarify. When did the romantic relationship between the two of you start?” Collins questioned.
“Yeah, so, you know, we get into, there’s been this effort to, to, to, to say that, okay, these, these exact dates are, are, are at issue. These exact dates are getting, getting — I’m getting signaled here,” Wade told Collins as men appeared on screen and ushered Wade aside.
Collins sat patiently as one man in a grey suit appeared to show Wade documents as the two had their backs turned to the camera, which they said was fine to “keep rolling.” The sound of papers rustling could be heard before the former special counsel retook his seat to continue the interview.
“Everything okay?” Collins asked.
“Yeah,” Wade said with a grin.
“Just to revisit the question. It was, to clarify when the romantic relationship started and when it ended,” the CNN host said.
“Sure. So, you know, I believe the public has through the testimony and other interviews, the public has a clear snapshot that this is clearly just a distraction. Um, it is not a relevant issue in this case. And I think that we should be focusing on more of the facts and the indictment of the case,” Wade said.
Willis appointed Wade as special prosecutor on Trump’s Georgia election interference case in Nov. 2021. As Wade’s lover, Willis was accused of inappropriately benefitting from lucrative contracts her office had given him and failing to disclose any gifts from Wade, such as vacations the two went on together, on her Annual Income and Financial Disclosure Report for 2022.
