Boy, this one stinks like fish left out for hours in the car trunk in July.
I’m referring to allegations that Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis hired her boyfriend, Nathan Wade, to help her in the case against Donald Trump and his lackeys.
Ashleigh Merchant, the defense lawyer for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, alleged in a motion that Wade is not qualified — that his resume is very thin when it comes to prosecuting felonies — yet he’s made probably more than $700,000 from the taxpayers.
Moreso, Merchant alleged that Wade paid for Willis to vacation with him in Napa Valley and on a Caribbean cruise. In essence, she’s calling it a possible kickback, a case of a vendor rewarding the government official who hired him. Merchant wants Judge Scott McAfee to toss the case against her client and for Willis and her office to be removed from the prosecution.
It’s crazy that Willis would have done this. If true, it would be stupid, thoughtless and even reckless. Surely, she would have known this would come out. Again, if true, this damages Willis’ credibility and the perception that this is a fair prosecution.
It will, no doubt, be an issue for Republicans to gnaw on in future weeks. GOP congress members have already said they will investigate.
On Sunday, Willis defended her choice of Wade while speaking to the congregation at Big Bethel AME Church. She called him a legal “superstar,” as well as a “great friend and a great lawyer.” But she steered clear of the alleged romance.
She noted that the other two prosecutors brought into the case — John Floyd and Anna Green Cross — are white. And Wade is not.
“They only attacked one,” said Willis, knowing race is always a good defense when in a pickle.
In response, Merchant again noted Wade’s prosecutorial “inexperience” compared to the two, adding, “The biggest difference between Ms. Cross, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Wade is that Ms. Willis is not in a relationship with Ms. Cross and Mr. Floyd.”
Solid evidence of their “improper, clandestine personal relationship” was not included in Merchant’s court filing because Wade’s divorce case from his wife of 26 years is sealed. Wade filed for divorce Nov. 2, 2021, a day after getting a contract to be a special prosecutor.
Some have argued Wade’s hourly fee of $250 is not crazy high for most private attorneys. And they’re not wrong. But if you’re billing $250 an hour day after day, week after week, it quickly adds up to be a nice living. By comparison, his boss makes just $198,000.
I’ve known Merchant for years and have found her smart and gutsy and can’t imagine she doesn’t have this one locked down tight. She’d be an idiot to make allegations this explosive in one of the world’s most sensational court cases if she didn’t have the goods.
She insists she has them.
“I waited (to file the motion); there was a reason,” Merchant told me. “I wanted all the goods. I wanted triple confirmation.”
“I started investigating this in August, interviewing witnesses and making public record requests. I just wanted to see why there was a special prosecutor.”
Merchant said she asked people if Wade and Willis were having an affair. “I talked with people in their office. They said, ‘I thought everyone knew.’ "
Merchant has known Willis for a couple of decades, back when they tried cases, many of them homicides, against each other in Fulton court. Merchant was a public defender, and the future district attorney was a hard-nosed, up-and-coming prosecutor.
When she said she got evidence that Willis and Wade were having an affair, “I was like really?!? It seems sloppy for her. You have all these great lawyers in your office. Why do this?”
I suggested that maybe Willis wanted someone she could trust to lead the prosecution, to be her eyes and ears with the other more experienced members of her team. Willis once told the New York Times she hired Wade because he could shake it off if she yelled at him. “I need somebody I can go off on, and they can, like, wipe off their wounds and we can get back to work,” Willis said.
Heck, she could yell at me for just $125 an hour.
Merchant thinks Willis’ reasoning to hire Wade was simpler than trust and his management skills. ”She wanted him to make money,” she said, adding, “His divorce pleadings indicate he wasn’t crushing it.”
Merchant wants Judge Scott McAfee to toss the case against her client and for Willis and her office to be removed from the prosecution.
Legal experts largely think it would be a stretch for the judge to kick out the case or even remove Willis.
“My answer is, yes, it certainly gives the appearance of impropriety, but it does not affect the Trump case,” said Danny Porter, the former district attorney of Gwinnett County, a Republican.
“She has needlessly complicated this case,” he added. “I have a lot of respect for her professionally. Unfortunately, it’s hard to maintain that and defend her.”
Porter also said hiring someone with less experience — and for lots more money — than an office full of veteran prosecutors is “sure to cause a certain level of resentment.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
But then again, resentment and grumbling are nothing new in any office.
Retired Fulton judge Gino Brogdon said, “This kind of thing reminds you that criminal litigation is a bare-knuckle process. It’s about someone’s freedom. Everything is fair game.”
“This is not enough to derail the prosecution,” Brogdon said. “It can make future jurors pause. If you dig enough into public officials’ lives, you’ll find things that are pause-worthy.”
The former judge got to know Willis about 20 years ago when she was a fierce prosecutor in his courtroom. She focused on crimes against women and children.
“She’s bone-crushing smart; she’s tough as nails, and she’s brave,” Brogdon said.
Brogdon said he doesn’t know the details of Willis’ relationship with Wade.
“I don’t think she’s sloppy,” he said, later adding, “I think she anticipated there might be some backlash. But she’s just tough enough to get through it.”
