Under fire, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis is accused of paying one of her special prosecutors $100 an hour less than her allegedly less qualified lover, Nathan Wade.
According to court records, Wade filed charges against Donald Trump and 18 others in November and December 2021 on charges of state fraud related to interference in the 2020 election, despite having no legal experience. He was billing the Fulton District Attorney's Office $250 an hour for his work.
Meanwhile, John Floyd, considered the state's leading expert on Racketeering and Criminal Organization (RICO) cases, was only charging $150 an hour that month, according to his contract. Retrieved from Daily Caller News Foundation.
The revelations come after Willis, who was accused in a document last week of a “secret” personal relationship between Wade and Wade and asked to have them both exonerated from the case, has given all three special prosecutors he hired an equal amount. This came to light the day after he said he had dealt with it.
Speaking at a local church service on Sunday, she said: “I appointed three special attorneys and paid them all the same hourly rate, as is my right.''
A third special prosecutor, Anna Cross, was paid $250 an hour in 2022, according to the Daily Caller, but the paper also said that starting in April 2022, Fulton County's relationship with Mr. Floyd He also points out that the agreement reached could have been higher, but it was not paid immediately. .
Willis went on to accuse her detractors of racism, saying they named Wade as the only black prosecutor she hired.
Speaking at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta on Sunday, she said, “I hired a black man, I hired a superstar, I hired a great friend, I hired a great lawyer…The first thing they say is, ' Oh, she's going to draw her race list now.''
“But God is different. Aren't they the ones who are playing the race card with just one question?”
Defendant Michael Roman, who first claimed Willis and Wade were in a relationship, quickly fired back.
“The biggest difference between Mr. Cross, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Wade is that Mr. Willis has no relationship with Mr. Cross or Mr. Floyd,” he told the Sunday Atlanta Constitution Journal.
According to Roman's filing, Wade used the money from the lawsuit to take Willis on vacations to Napa Valley and the Caribbean.
“Willis and Wade had a romantic relationship prior to Willis contracting Wade for legal services,” the filing states, without providing any evidence to prove that.
With that in mind, Mr. Wade's past stance on conflicts of interest may raise some eyebrows.
At a candidate forum hosted by the Cobb County NAACP, he appeared to take a hard line when asked about when judges should recuse themselves from cases.
“If there's an appearance of cheating, just the appearance of cheating, and there's a request for retraction, then do it. Because by not doing it, what you're doing is a long-term It's going to hurt the county and it's going to hurt the taxpayers,'' Wade was quoted as saying in 2016. marietta daily journal.
Wade was referring to Cobb County Superior Court Judge Reuben Green, who has repeatedly contested his position, after he was accused of a conflict of interest that led to ethics complaints. ing.
Wade also advocated for it by then-Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue (R). Greene was appointed to the bench in 2010 because she was married to one of the governor's top aides.
Mr. Green, a former state and federal prosecutor, previously denied Mr. Wade's allegations.
Judge Scott McAfee, who presides over the Georgia election interference case, said in court Friday that a hearing into the alleged relationship between Mr. Wade and Mr. Willis is scheduled to be held in early February.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Roman have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The case has not yet been scheduled for trial.
