The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday asked a Georgia judge to rescind subpoenas for top prosecutors in former President Trump’s 2020 election interference case. Prosecutors are required to testify at a hearing next week on whether they should be excused from the case.
One of Trump’s co-defendants in Georgia was scheduled to be sentenced in February after accusing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) and special prosecutor Nathan Wade of having a romantic relationship. The two were summoned to a public hearing along with at least six of their colleagues. 15.
Willis and Wade acknowledged last week that they had a “personal relationship,” but the district attorney’s office said the calls for his resignation were unfounded and there was no need for a hearing.
new 36 page motion On Wednesday, the district attorney’s office called the subpoenas “reckless” and based on “reckless accusations,” and asked Judge Scott McAfee to block attempts to force Willis, Wade and others to testify at the hearing. Ta.
“Georgia law, like authorities across the country, has predictably frowned upon procedures that allow one litigant’s attorney to compel testimony from the opposing party’s attorneys or employees, and here we depart from that general principle. There is no good reason to do so,” Special Counsel Anna Greencross wrote on behalf of the state.
The district attorney’s office also accused the defense attorney of trying to “obstruct and delay” the prosecution.
“This effort should be terminated immediately,” prosecutors wrote.
Trump 2020 campaign staffer Mike Roman, one of the former president’s co-defendants in Georgia, first alleged in court papers filed last month that Willis had been romantically involved with Wade. criticized.
Roman, Trump and more than a dozen others are facing racketeering charges over accusations they participated in an illegal conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. This is one of four criminal cases facing the former president, of whom he has pleaded not guilty to all 91 charges.
Nearly a month later, Willis and Wade admitted on Friday that they had a “personal relationship,” but insisted they were just friends when Willis hired Wade in late 2021.
The Hill has reached out to Mr. Roman’s attorney, Ashley Merchant, and Mr. Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, Steve Sadow, for comment.
Mr. Roman’s motion alleges that Mr. Willis’ relationship with Mr. Wade makes the massive extortion indictment against himself, Mr. Trump and 17 others “fatally flawed.” He is asking the judge to dismiss his own charges and stop Mr. Willis, Mr. Wade and the entire Fulton County District Attorney’s Office from continuing to prosecute the case.
In addition to Willis and Wade, Roman subpoenaed multiple investigative officials from the district attorney’s office and other prosecutors involved in Trump’s criminal case. Wade’s divorce attorney has also been subpoenaed, and Roman is also seeking personal and business banking records for Wade and his law firm.
While Mr. Trump and a handful of other defendants joined in the motion to have Mr. Willis not indicted, they also drew attention to other aspects of Mr. Willis’ conduct that they say are disqualifying.
Earlier Wednesday, Sadow said that during a church service commemorating Martin Luther King Jr., Willis said race played a role in the criticism she and Wade received as evidence of prosecutorial misconduct. He cited the innuendo by name and reiterated that the district attorney’s office should step back.
“Our filing confirms that, contrary to the DA’s response, Georgia law authorizes and compels the DA’s disbarment for extrajudicial prosecutorial statements that violate the prosecutor’s special ethical responsibilities,” he said in a statement. It is persuasively argued that this is the case.”
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