Multiple media outlets this week have filed court papers seeking the release of a Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutor’s divorce court papers amid allegations that the county district attorney engaged in an improper relationship with that prosecutor.
Fifteen media outlets, including local newspaper The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, asked a judge in Cobb County, Georgia, to unseal Fulton Count special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s divorce case. Those outlets stated that the court papers involving Mr. Wade and his wife are of significant public interest because of his role as a top prosecutor involved in the case against former President Donald Trump, Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, and many more.
Last week, a defendant in that case, Michael Roman, filed a potential bombshell court motion that accused Mr. Wade and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought the charges against President Trump and the others, of engaging in an “improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency” of the case. The court filing offered few details and little evidence to back up the allegations.
They noted that the Georgia Supreme Court recognizes a “sweeping presumption of access” regarding court records, even including matters involving family issues and divorce proceedings.
“The Court has reiterated time and again that open judicial records and proceedings are an integral part of our democratic form of government,” their attorneys argued.
The Cobb Superior Court judge overseeing the divorce case scheduled a hearing for Jan. 31 to determine whether those court materials should be unsealed. It was also reported that Ms. Willis was subpoenaed for a deposition with Mr. Wade’s wife’s attorneys on Jan. 23, while her office was told to hand over materials in the divorce proceedings.
Other media outlets seeking details about the divorce case include The Associated Press, CNN, CBS News, ABC, Bloomberg News, The Wall Street Journal, Court TV, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, WSB-TV, Scripps News, and WXIA-TV, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“The allegation that records in this action reveal a legally improper relationship between Special Prosecutor Wade and D.A. Willis must be answered in a transparent manner to preserve public confidence in our judicial system,” attorneys for the outlets said in a court filing.
Neither Mr. Wade nor Ms. Willis have publicly denied the claims, while the Fulton County district attorney’s office told media outlets that it will respond in court filings. The Epoch Times contacted the Fulton County district attorney’s office and Mr. Wade’s private law firm for comment last week.
In a lengthy speech over the past weekend at an Atlanta church, Ms. Willis suggested that racial animus against her was the reason for the accusations that she engaged in the relationship. However, she provided no evidence to back up her assertion.
“First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s going to play the race card now,’” Ms. Willis, a Democrat, said at the event. “Isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one? Isn’t it them playing the race card when they constantly think I need someone from some other jurisdiction in some other state to tell me how to do a job I’ve been doing almost 30 years?
“You did not tell me as a woman of color, it would not matter what I did. My motive, my talent, my ability, and my character would be constantly attacked.”
Allegations
In seeking to have Ms. Willis dismissed from the case, Mr. Roman’s lawyer accused the district attorney of allegedly committing “an act to defraud the public of honest services” because of the “intentional failure” to disclose the alleged relationship with Mr. Wade. What’s more, she “personally benefitted” from the relationship, the lawyer said.
“Accordingly, the district attorney and the special prosecutor have violated laws regulating the use of public monies, suffer from irreparable conflicts of interest, and have violated their oaths of office under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct and should be disqualified from prosecuting this matter,” the motion reads.
“I would never have filed something like this if I didn’t have multiple sources to corroborate,” attorney Ashleigh Merchant told the channel.
Ms. Merchant has documentary evidence and witnesses to back up the claims in the filing, she said.
The attorney said she spoke with a former Fulton County district attorney’s office employee who claimed that they believed it was common knowledge that the two were engaged in a romantic relationship.
But a spokesman for the Fulton County district attorney’s office, Jeff DiSantis, told local media outlets that he has never heard of any alleged relationship between the two and that there was no common knowledge about the matter.
He said the district attorney’s office will respond to Ms. Merchant’s allegations in filings and in court.
