Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) this week announced she filed a complaint to ask for the disbarment of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her relationship with a former special counsel involved in the Trump case.
The district attorney, she wrote, “should’ve been removed from her political persecution of President Trump after it was revealed she went on lavish vacations with her lover Nathan Wade,” adding that Mr. Wade was “paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The Georgia lawmaker was referring to a court motion filed in January along with subsequent allegations that accused Ms. Willis of financially benefitting from her relationship with Mr. Wade, whom she hired as a special counsel. Both Mr. Wade, who stepped down from the case last week, and the district attorney have denied those allegations but confirmed they were in a relationship after the allegations surfaced.
The Republican congresswoman wrote in a complaint filed with the State Bar of Georgia on Wednesday that she was “requesting an investigation of Fani Willis, her suspension, and her disbarment.” The complaint also said Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the Willis disqualification matter and the Trump case, erred when he did not disqualify her last week and did not find she lied on the witness stand over her relationship.
The judge wrote last week that Ms. Willis either needs to step down from the case or that she must terminate Mr. Wade. While Mr. Wade resigned after the ruling was handed down, there has been no public indication that the district attorney will remove herself.
Mr. Wade wrote that he resigned because it was “in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public and to move this case forward as quickly as possible.”
In response, Ms. Willis complimented his “professionalism and dignity” in a letter accepting his resignation, effective immediately. She said he had endured threats against himself and his family, as well as “unjustified attacks” in the media and in court on his reputation as a lawyer.
Judge Allows Review
Days later, Judge McAfee allowed President Trump and the other defendants to appeal his ruling to review the decision. The judge also wrote he would continue working to get the case ready for trial by addressing other matters in the meantime.The judge did not find that the Willis–Wade relationship created a conflict of interest that should force her off the case, but he stressed it created an “appearance of impropriety” that had infected the prosecution team. The judge rebuked her for her “tremendous” lapse in judgment and questioned the truthfulness of Mr. Wade’s and her testimony about the timing of their relationship.
“Put differently, an outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences,“ Judge McAfee wrote. ”As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.”
Trial Date
Ms. Greene’s complaint comes amid reports, including one from CNN citing anonymous sources, that Ms. Willis is planning to ask Judge McAfee to schedule a trial in the Trump case as soon as this summer.The report from CNN said that sources “close to” Ms. Willis’ office as well as “multiple sources familiar with the thinking inside Willis’s office” said that Judge McAfee is not prevented from setting a trial date amid a possible appeal. They are looking to respond after the U.S. Supreme Court issues a decision on whether President Trump is immune from prosecution.
“Now we’re back to where we never should have left, which is these people were under felony indictment. Let’s get a trial date,” a person described as a “Willis ally” to told the outlet Thursday.
