{"id":4305,"date":"2024-02-12T22:13:22","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T22:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/12\/judge-in-trump-georgia-case-says-da-fani-willis-alleged-improper-affair-could-result-in-disqualification\/"},"modified":"2024-02-12T22:13:22","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T22:13:22","slug":"judge-in-trump-georgia-case-says-da-fani-willis-alleged-improper-affair-could-result-in-disqualification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/12\/judge-in-trump-georgia-case-says-da-fani-willis-alleged-improper-affair-could-result-in-disqualification\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge in Trump Georgia case says DA Fani Willis\u2019 alleged \u2018improper\u2019 affair \u2018could result in disqualification’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Georgia state judge<\/a> on Monday confirmed that he will hold an evidentiary hearing on Thursday over allegations that embattled District Attorney Fani Willis engaged in an “improper” affair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Willis was accused of having an “improper” affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute former President Donald Trump <\/a>in a sweeping racketeering case related to the 2020 election. Those allegations were first made by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, who is arguing that Willis\u2019 alleged conduct should disqualify her and her team from the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Willis, who admitted to a personal relationship with Wade but denied any conflict of interest, asked the court to cancel the evidentiary hearing slated for later this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said in a hearing Monday considering those motions, “in studying the law that’s been filed up to this point, I think it’s clear that disqualification can occur if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one. And the filing submitted on this issue so far have presented a conflict in the evidence that can’t be resolved as a matter of law.”<\/p>\n

FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS ADMITS PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH PROSECUTOR BUT DENIES CONFLICT OF INTEREST<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Specifically looking at defendant Roman\u2019s motion, it alleges a personal relationship that resulted in a financial benefit to the district attorney. And that is no longer a matter of complete speculation. The state has admitted a relationship existed. And so, what remains to be proven is the existence and extent of any financial benefit,” the judge said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So, because I think it’s possible that the facts alleged by the defendant could result in disqualification, I think an evidentiary hearing must occur to establish the record on those core allegations,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In legal filings last month, Roman alleged that\u00a0Wade billed Fulton County\u00a0for 24 hours of work on a single day in November 2021, shortly after\u00a0being appointed as a\u00a0special prosecutor, and that\u00a0Willis\u00a0financially\u00a0benefited from her alleged lover\u2019s padded\u00a0taxpayer-funded\u00a0salary by taking lavish vacations\u00a0together\u00a0on his dime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the court documents, Wade, who\u00a0has no\u00a0RICO and felony\u00a0prosecution experience, billed taxpayers $654,000 since January 2022.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Judge McAfee said Monday that “the particulars” of Wade\u2019s experience will not be relevant in the evidentiary hearing, which will take place on Thursday, Feb. 15, adding,\u00a0“in my mind as long as a lawyer has a heartbeat and a bar card that lawyer\u2019s appointment standing alone is a matter within the District Attorney\u2019s discretion.”<\/p>\n

GEORGIA WHISTLEBLOWERS LINING UP TO TESTIFY AGAINST FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS, STATE LAWMAKER SAYS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

McAfee said the issues “at point” here are “whether a relationship existed, whether that relationship was romantic or non-romantic in nature, when it formed and whether it continues. And that’s only relevant because it’s in combination with the question of the existence and extent of any personal benefit conveyed as a result of their relationship.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Willis responded to the allegations in a court filing and admitted to having a “personal” relationship with Wade but denied any conflict of interest. She also argued that,\u00a0according to Georgia law,<\/a> in order for a district attorney to be forcibly removed from a case, the conflict of interest has to be harmful to a defendant’s case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

FANI WILLIS WHO ‘RELISHED IN’ DONALD TRUMP PROSECUTION SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM CASE FOR ILLICIT AFFAIR: EXPERTS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Willis told the Superior Court that while the allegations against her are “salacious,” they have no “merit.”<\/p>\n

Willis claims that while she and Wade “have been professional associates and friends since 2019,” there was “no personal relationship” between her and Wade in November 2021 at the time of Wade\u2019s appointment, and that Roman and his lawyers “offer no support for their insistence that the exercise of any prosecutorial discretion (i.e., any charging decision or plea recommendation) in this case was impacted by any personal relationship.”<\/p>\n

Willis’ filing said Roman’s motions “attempt to cobble together entirely unremarkable circumstances of Special Prosecutor Wade\u2019s appointment with completely irrelevant allegations about his personal family life into a manufactured conflict of interest on the part of the District Attorney.”<\/p>\n

Judge McAfee determined that Terrence Bradley, Wade\u2019s former law partner, will testify first on Thursday and that his testimony will determine whether others will be required to testify.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The state has also revealed that DA Willis\u2019 father will be testifying on Thursday, remotely from California.<\/p>\n

The court has set aside all day Thursday and Friday for this hearing, and potentially more time if needed. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Georgia state judge on Monday confirmed that he will hold an evidentiary hearing on Thursday over allegations that embattled District Attorney Fani Willis engaged in an “improper” affair.\u00a0 Willis was accused of having an “improper” affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to help prosecute former President Donald Trump in a sweeping … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}