My goodness! 2024 continues to deliver, and in heaping barrelfuls. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran a breaking story yesterday headlined, “
Filing alleges ‘improper’ relationship between Georgia DA, top Trump prosecutor.” Improper is
one way of putting it.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is infamously prosecuting President Trump along with a raft of his former election lawyers and campaign advisors under Georgia state criminal charges. Yesterday, one of the President’s co-defendants filed a motion filed in case alleging that DA Willis not only hired herself a love snack, paying him a six figure salary, but also used the unfortunate young man in a sordid scheme to launder taxpayer money and luxurious gifts
back to herself.
To which she is no doubt
entitled.
Former Trump campaign official and co-defendent Michael Roman filed the motion, which asked the Court to disqualify the frisky DA Willis along with the entire Fulton County District Attorney office. The motion’s allegations — which were at least partly independently confirmed by the Journal-Constitution — included that DA Willis hired outside attorney and love interest Nathan Wade to help prosecute the case.
Mr. Wade is her, well, not exactly a
boyfriend, but maybe more like a perk of office, or one of DA Willis’
side hustles. According to public records, after authorization by one Fani Willis, Fulton County taxpayers paid Mr. Wade over $650,000
in the last twelve months alone for his, er, services. The invoices call it “legal fees.”
But Mr. Wade has never worked on
a felony case before, never mind a high-profile record-shattering case like this one. Fulton County’s approved rate for non-felony criminal prosecutors is only $140 per hour. Wade’s astronomical salary — miles over the approved rates — was not approved by Fulton County commissioners, which the Motion reasonably claims is
unlawful. Even more ugly, Wade started working under DA Willis through his enhanced contract on November 1st, 2021 —
the day before he filed for divorce in Cobb County.
DA Willis is, coincidentally, also divorced.
The motion alleges the contract payments to Wade appear to have benefitted DA Willis in several,
ahem, ways, and therefore amounted to kickbacks, racketeering, and a massive conflict of interest.
By all appearances Mr. Wade has earned every penny. Talk about a dirty job. Mr. Wade is married, but as noted sadly and totally coincidentally finds himself amidst a pretty ugly divorce. I wouldn’t mention his divorce, you know me,
privacy first, but it’s relevant to the story because defendant Roman’s very creative criminal lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, relied on then-available documents from Mr. Wade’s divorce case.
Those documents probably included some unfortunate things his soon-to-be ex-wife said during moments of candid but well-justified anger, since she was completely left out of the Willis-Wade arrangement.
Well-respected Atlanta Criminal Defense Attorney Ashleigh Merchant
Right after attorney Ashleigh accessed Mr. Wade’s public divorce file down at the Cobb County clerk’s office, the judge in the divorce case coincidentally entered a
sua sponte (“on its own initiative”) order sealing the entire file. Without a motion or a hearing, which is, uh,
highly irregular.
One imagines the scene: the Cobb County clerk, nervous, hands slightly trembling, sweating bullets — but still handing over documents while smiling awkwardly and professionally — until one second after Ms. Merchant departs. The clerk scrambles over the counter, sending staplers and pencil cups flying, carefully opens the door and peers around the corner to make sure Ms. Merchant has safely boarded the elevator, then ploddingly jogs, clumsily but earnestly (also heroically, on footwear never designed for
running), at top land speed, down the long courthouse hallway, heel strikes echoing up and down the marble corridor — tap tap! tap tap! tap tap! — and finally swerves into the judge’s office without breaking stride.
A frantic, loud, and often angry conservation can be heard taking place inside, with the muffled words not
quite legible, but often resembling enthusiastic expletives. Then the judge’s chambers office door bursts open again and the clerk re-emerges, triumphantly, like a dime-store Venus emerging from the legal sea, a freshly-signed order to seal the Wade divorce in her humid hands. She then ponderously lopes back down the long hallway — tap tap! tap tap! tap tap! — sweat stains running down her back, heart racing, to process the order into Fulton County’s court records system and make it official as fast as she can before any more damage is done.
But alas, too late.
I’m only guessing. But, presumably based on information in the sealed divorce records, the Motion alleged that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade are involved in a sweet-sounding “romantic relationship.” The two romantic adulterers traveled together to Napa Valley’s wine country and to the free state of Florida, and happily cruised the Caribbean on Norwegian and Royal Caribbean cruise lines using tickets purchased by Wade. Using taxpayer dollars.
As the Motion described it:
Ms. Merchant told the Journal-Constitution she can prove all her carefully-considered allegations; she’s sitting on some pretty explosive material that she can’t share with reporters at present since the Wade divorce action was mysteriously sealed after she asked the clerk for the copies. But she has recently asked the court to unseal Wade’s case.
Online, Trump derangement types admit this is pretty damaging stuff, but
of course argue the Ms. Willis’ private life is
her own business and nobody else’s. Who cares what she does with taxpayer money in her off time? At worst, it was
bad judgment. But they are worried it will derail Trump’s prosecution.
And they should be. I see another “Claudine Gay” type situation developing. It’s hard to see how DA Willis survives this scandal. This will be a fascinating story.
More 2024 disclosures! Fani Willis caught with, uh, hand in the taxpayer cookie jar; new Lloyd Austin details; Portlander finds Alaska Air door plug; 9th Cir. re-stays Ca. gun law; and a good example.
www.coffeeandcovid.com
www.thegatewaypundit.com
thefederalist.com
