Defense Attorney Ashleigh Merchant, leading the effort to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, ripped former special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s “constant inconsistencies” during his testimony and any connection the affair may have to former President Donald Trump’s case.
Merchant appeared on “The Source With Kaitlan Collins” to discuss her push to remove Willis from leading a case against Trump over alleged election interference during the 2020 election. During the interview, CNN host Kaitlan Collins questioned Merchant on the arguments she will be making to the court of appeals, asking why she believes the outcome will be different than her last court hearing. (RELATED: Wade Appears To Backtrack After Saying Affair Ended When Realizing It Could ‘Probably Interfere With The Work’)
“Well, because we think that he applied the wrong standard. We think we showed more than enough to show an appearance of impropriety. We think we actually showed a conflict as well. So I think that it goes much further than that. And you‘ve got to understand Nathan Wade has been paid more than any prosecutor in American history. The timing of the relationship is important,” Merchant said.
“You got a little bit of a taste of what I experienced when I was questioning him on the stand — very evasive, didn‘t want to answer that question. It is a very simple question. When did this relationship start? That is not a tough thing to remember. When you started having an extramarital affair with your boss, that‘s not something that‘s difficult to remember. And these constant inconsistencies, that‘s what we‘re talking about in this case. And I think the court of appeals is going to see that.”
Collins then pivoted to asking Merchant her response to people who question the alleged connection between Willis and Wade’s affair to Trump’s alleged election interference.
“What do you say to people who look at this or hear that interview with Nathan Wade or watched when you questioned Wade and Fani Willis and say, ‘Okay, they had this relationship. It‘s unseemly and certainly not becoming of prosecutors in this office, but what does it have to do with Donald Trump and these co-defendants trying to overturn the election in the state of Georgia.’ It doesn‘t — those two aren‘t actually related,” Collins responded.
“It is always relevant. Any conduct that undermines the American public‘s view of the justice system. Anything that undermines our legal system is always going to be relevant. It‘s no different than if we had a police officer who did a racially biased stop and then we challenged it and we filed a motion to suppress,” Merchant said.
“We‘re not challenging whether or not the person had drugs that they found in the car. We‘re challenging the police officer‘s conduct. If the police break the law, then they‘re evidence is thrown out. If the prosecutor breaks the law, then they are not able to continue to prosecute a case. That is always relevant. Anything that undermines the justice system is always relevant.”
Collins continued to call out Merchant’s example of being racially profiled, stating that while an action like that from a police office is illegal, “a relationship with someone you work with” isn’t.
“Oh, it is in Fulton County, though. It‘s actually illegal in Fulton County. And that‘s why it wasn‘t exposed. They didn‘t expose it. And if it hadn‘t been illegal, they would have told the Fulton County commissioner. They kept this a secret because it is illegal, and it is actually a federal offense to have honest services fraud,” Merchant pushed back.
Following reports in January exposing details of Willis and Wade’s affair due to one of Trump’s co-defendants, Michael Roman, filing an accusation against the two for lying about the relationship, a hearing was conducted to decide if the two should remain on Trump’s case. As Willis had previously appointed Wade as a special prosecutor for the indictment against Trump, presiding Judge Scott McAfee eventually gave the option of either having Wade step down or Willis and the entire office step aside from the case despite finding “a significant appearance of impropriety.”
Wade then announced his resignation in March. Nearly two months later, the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to reconsider having Willis disqualified from the case.
