Former President Donald Trump and his GOP allies are ramping up efforts to dismantle the Georgia election-subversion case against the ex-president, pointing to bombshell allegations of a personal relationship between the Democratic district attorney and taxpayer-funded special prosecutor.
House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Friday launched a probe into Nathan Wade, the lawyer hired by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to work on the Trump case.
The Ohio Republican cited allegations that Mr. Wade had a relationship with his boss, Ms. Willis, and billed taxpayers for meetings with the now-defunct House Select Committee on Jan. 6 in Washington and White House counsel in Athens, Georgia.
“The committee has serious concerns about the degree of improper coordination among politicized actors — including the Biden White House — to investigate and prosecute President Biden’s chief political opponent,” Mr. Jordan wrote in a letter to Mr. Wade demanding any correspondence between him and the Jan. 6 panel, White House or Department of Justice.
Earlier in the week, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia called for an “immediate and formal probe” into the alleged relationship between Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade, who appeared in Judge Scott McAfee’s Atlanta courtroom for a hearing on pre-trial motions.
Ms. Willis began investigating the former president three years ago based on his bid to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to dig up enough votes to overtake President Biden’s narrow electoral victory in the state.
A grand jury last year indicted Mr. Trump and 18 associates under Georgia racketeering charges.
Lawyers and agents working for Ms. Willis met with Jan. 6 committee staff in early 2022 in the run-up to the Georgia grand jury handing up the indictment, according to a recent Politico report.
The contacts raised questions for Republicans and Mr. Trump’s defense team, who say they’ve struggled to get insight into interactions between Congress and Ms. Willis’ team — and whether the probe was overtly political or stuck to standard practices.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chaired the Jan. 6 panel, told The Washington Times in December that his panel followed the law when it came to the preservation of documents.
“We did it consistent with what the law required. And that was it. I’m not aware of destruction of any documents,” he said. “I’m not aware of staff being instructed to destroy any documents.”
The most immediate threat to the Georgia prosecution could be the alleged improper relationship between Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade.
A bombshell court motion filed by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman alleges that Mr. Wade, a married father of two, paid for luxury vacations with Ms. Willis after his law firm received money from Fulton County for work on the Trump case.
Trump attorney Steve Sadow on Friday said invoices contained in the Roman motion indicated that members or staff of the House Jan. 6 panel met with Mr. Wade, meaning the dual investigations into Ms. Willis are intertwined.
“What I’m trying to do is find out what it is that the J-6 committee allowed the DA’s office to get access to,” Mr. Sadow told Judge McAfee. “It appears they were given the right to review material from J-6 when they were [in Washington] there but weren’t permitted to keep it.”
Mr. Sadow said he deserved to find out what Ms. Willis’ team reviewed as he prepares Mr. Trump’s defense.
Mr. Wade told the court his side met with officials on the Jan. 6 panel and turned over materials to the defense in an appropriate manner. He said many of the materials were publicly released, anyway.
Attorneys this week served Ms. Willis a subpoena seeking testimony in Mr. Wade’s divorce proceeding with his wife. Ms. Willis hasn’t commented on her alleged relationship with Mr. Wade but she is expected to respond to Mr. Roman’s motion in court.
Mr. Trump’s allies aren’t waiting for the court to weigh the matter.
Ms. Greene, Georgia Republican, dispatched a letter to Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and state Attorney General Christopher M. Carr, urging them to formally probe the issue.
“This is part of Fani Willis’ unlawful partisan pattern, through her words and deeds, to illegally politicize and weaponize her public office to wage lawfare against President Trump for the purpose of interfering in the 2024 presidential election,” she wrote. “And now we are learning she has allegedly enriched her secret boyfriend and herself during this process.”
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, is exuding confidence that Ms. Willis is in deeper trouble than he is.
“When is Fani going to drop the case, or should it be dropped for her? She is in more legal difficulty than any of the many people that she wrongfully indicted!” he wrote on his social media platform.
Also Friday, defense attorneys argued that prosecutors were misapplying Georgia’s anti-racketeering law in the sprawling case. They said the statute is being applied to political speech instead of things like bodily or financial harm, as lawmakers intended.
“I think it’s almost like the ’Princess Bride,’” Chris Anulewicz, a lawyer for Trump co-defendant Bob Cheeley, told the court. “I don’t think that the words that they’re using mean what I think they mean.”
John Floyd, on behalf of Ms. Willis, said there are acts under the racketeering, or “RICO,” statute that do not relate to bodily or economic harm.
• Kerry Picket contributed to this report.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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