The allegations of a romance between Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, and Nathan J. Wade first emerged in a January filing by Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Michael Roman, one of former President Donald J. Trump’s co-defendants in Georgia.
In her filing, Ms. Merchant said that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade, whom she hired to manage the Trump case, had been “profiting personally from this prosecution” at taxpayers’ expense. Ms. Merchant also said that Mr. Wade was underqualified, and argued that the entire indictment should be dismissed.
A torrent of court filings followed, as did a number of dramatic, televised public hearings that had little to do with the indictment charging Mr. Trump and some of his allies with conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Defense lawyers argued that Ms. Willis had engaged in “self-dealing” by hiring Mr. Wade to manage the Trump prosecution, and then going on vacations with him that he paid for, at least in part. Defense lawyers also accused Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis of lying to the court about some details of their relationship, including when it began.
What We Know About the Relationship Between the Trump Prosecutors
