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By Rachel Dobkin
Weekend Reporter
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Attorney and legal analyst Jonathan Turley warned on Friday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could get referred for prosecution by a Georgia court after new evidence was revealed.
Willis and Nathan Wade, the prosecutor she hired in 2021 to lead the racketeering case against former President Donald Trump, have been under fire for a personal relationship that ended in the summer of 2023. Trump and 18 co-defendants have been accused of conspiring to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election win in Georgia. The former president has plead not guilty to all charges and claims that the case is politically motivated as he is the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 election.
In an attempt to disqualify Willis and her team and get his charges dropped, Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign staffer and one of the co-defendants in the case, brought forward allegations of a personal relationship between Willis and Wade in early January. Roman has pleaded not guilty in the case.
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Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the case, held a series of hearings last week to determine if Willis and her office will be disqualified from the case. While on the witness stand, Willis was asked if Wade ever visited her home. Willis then erupted, saying, "So let's be clear 'cause you lied in this" while holding up court documents. "It is a lie! It is a lie!"
Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School who testified during Bill Clinton's impeachment inquiry in 1998 and at an impeachment hearing for Trump in 2019, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, "We are still awaiting a response from Willis so this is only one side. However, it could put Willis's combative testimony into sharp relief as she declared 'It's a lie. It's a lie' on the stand."
Turley was referring to new evidence, including an affidavit from a private investigator who analyzed Wade's cellphone location data, that Trump's lawyers asked McAfee to review in a supplemental brief filed on Friday. The investigator said the data showed that in 2021, Wade arrived at Willis' home late at night twice and left in the early morning hours, once in September and the other in November.
Newsweek reached out to Willis' office, Trump's lawyer and Trump's campaign via email for comment.
Willis and Wade said that their relationship started in the spring of 2022 after Willis hired Wade.
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"If the court believes that Willis and Wade lied on the stand, he could refer the matter for possible prosecution...by some other office. He could also consider a referral to the bar. Once again, the insistence on Willis and Wade that they remain in the case is troubling," Turley wrote in a follow-up X post.
In another post, he added: "There is clearly a growing appearance of impropriety and possible conflicts of interest. It is clear that they continuation in the matter is undermining not just the integrity of the case but that of their office. While many praised Willis for her combative testimony, it only magnified the concerns for many about the underlying personal motivations and interests in the hiring of Nathan Wade."
Turley told Newsweek via email on Saturday that Willis and Wade should "step aside" in Trump's Georgia case, adding that their "problems are escalating."
"The response of Willis and Wade is now eclipsing the original allegations. They have placed their personal interests before the case and the office. Most importantly, they have allowed those interests to transcend the public interest in the case. They should clearly step aside," he wrote. "However, there are now alleging of false filings with the court and even perjury. The problems are escalating for both prosecutors."
Meanwhile, it's unclear if the Trump team's new filing will delay or alter McAfee's pending ruling.
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