Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and a special prosecutor she hired for the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump have been issued subpoenas by a defense attorney who has alleged Willis and the prosecutor had an inappropriate romantic relationship.
Lawyer Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, filed a motion Jan. 8 seeking to dismiss the indictment and to remove Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade from the case.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the election case, has ordered Willis' team to respond by Friday to the motion and to remove Willis from the prosecution. He has set a hearing on the matter for Feb. 15. Merchant confirmed that she has subpoenaed both Willis and Wade to testify at that hearing.
Merchant's law firm also filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Willis' office of failing to comply with the Georgia Open Records Act, saying they "appear to be intentionally withholding information" that she has requested.
"Mr. Roman believes that Willis' use of money budgeted to (the DA's office) is of utmost importance in evaluating whether Willis and Wade have an irreparable and fatal conflict of interest and whether, and to what extent, Willis has otherwise used public monies for personal gain," said the lawsuit, filed in Fulton State Court, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Willis spokesperson Jeff DiSantis declined to comment on the subpoenas, but disputed Merchant's open records claims.
"We've provided her with the information she's entitled to," he said, adding that some of the records are still being compiled. He provided a letter that he said the office sent to Merchant last week providing an update on the status of requests she'd made, as well as screenshots showing that Merchant had accessed some records.
A spokesman told the AJC that the district attorney's office had not yet been served the lawsuit. But the office told Merchant Friday that "respectfully, we disagree with your disingenuous implication" that it has violated the Open Records Act and indicated it had complied with all 14 of the attorney's requests, including 12 filed recently.
Neither Willis nor Wade has publicly addressed the allegations of an inappropriate relationship. Willis' office has repeatedly said it would respond to Roman's motion in a court filing.
Willis, an elected Democrat, hired Wade in November 2021 to help with her investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Since a Fulton County grand jury in August returned an indictment against Trump and 18 others, Wade has led the team of lawyers Willis assembled to prosecute the case.
Trump has seized on the allegations as he campaigns for the Republican nomination for president, trying to use them to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the case against him. Four co-defendants have already pleaded guilty in the case after reaching plea deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others who remain have pleaded not guilty.
Roman is a former Trump campaign staffer and onetime White House aide. Trump and co-defendant Robert Cheeley, a Georgia lawyer, have joined Roman's motion.
Roman's filing alleges that Willis had paid Wade large sums for his work and then improperly benefited when Wade paid for the pair to go on trips, creating a conflict of interest. It also questioned Wade's qualifications for the job.
No proof of the alleged relationship was included in the motion. Willis spoke out during a church service nearly a week later and defended Wade's qualifications, but did not address the allegations of a relationship.
In a court filing seeking to avoid sitting for a deposition in Wade's divorce case, Willis accused Wade's wife of trying to obstruct the election case. In a filing in response, Wade's wife included credit card statements that showed Wade had bought plane tickets for Willis to travel with him to San Francisco and Miami.
Newsmax writer Solange Reyner contributed to this report.