Legal team for suspected accomplice Interference in Georgian elections The case against former President Donald Trump alleged in a filing Friday that the personal relationship between Fulton County District Attorney Fanie Willis and Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade began earlier than they admitted.
“Mr. Roman believes that the special counsel’s testimony that the relationship did not begin until 2022 is patently false,” attorneys for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman said in a filing to Judge Scott McAfee on Friday.
In the previous application, Wade said He said that he and Willis “established a personal relationship” in 2022. a high-stakes case On allegations that Trump and others are engaged in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Willis included that statement in his filing last week reported “any personal relationships between members of the prosecution team do not create a disqualifying conflict of interest or otherwise prejudice the criminal defendant.”
Roman’s attorneys claimed Friday that Wade’s former divorce attorney, Terrence Bradley, will “refute” the claim that Wade and Willis had “no personal, romantic relationship prior to Willis appointing Wade as special prosecutor.”
“Bradley has unprivileged personal information that the romantic relationship between Wade and Willis began before Willis was sworn in as district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia in January 2021.” “Thus, Bradley can confirm that Willis signed a contract with Wade after Wade and Willis became romantically involved, thereby disproving Wade’s claim that they did not start dating until 2022.”
The filing further said that Bradley had information about the timing of Willis and Wade’s relationship because he “obtained this information personally as a friend of Wade’s prior to Wade’s decision to file for divorce.”
Roman’s lawyers also claimed that Bradley would “corroborate” reports that Willis and Wade were “regularly” staying together at different residences.
Neither Willis nor Wade immediately responded to NBC News’ request for comment Friday night. Bradley also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Roman’s attorneys again urged McAfee to shelve plans to hold a previously scheduled evidentiary hearing next Thursday to allow Roman to question witnesses and present evidence. Roman had previously subpoenaed Willis and Wade to testify in court, but the district attorney’s team announced shortly afterward that they had filed a motion to quash the subpoenas. Roman and Trump are seeking to have the indictment dismissed and Willis fired.
Roman’s attorneys claim that Willis and Wade “enriched themselves from this business,” pointing to money paid by Willis to Wade and records documenting alleged trips Willis and Wade took together. Attorneys for the co-defendant alleged in a filing Friday that the district attorney received financial benefits from “vacations, hotel stays and the like unrelated to this case or his official duties as a prosecutor.”
“These benefits are concrete, personal and financial,” he said. “They also conflict with the district attorney’s duty to seek justice, so both the district attorney and the special prosecutor will always operate under that conflict, regardless of when the relationship begins.”
There’s Wade said before The couple split the travel expenses roughly.
In a previous filing, the district attorney and his office disputed Roman’s claims, arguing that Willis and Wade’s personal relationship “never directly or indirectly benefited District Attorney Willis.”
“District Attorney Willis has no financial conflict of interest that constitutes a legal basis for disqualification” previous application Willis’ office said. “District Attorney Willis has no personal conflict of interest that would justify disqualifying him or the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.”
Both Roman and Trump, who faces 13 criminal charges, are involved he begged He is not guilty of interference in Georgian elections. Four defendants pleaded guilty.