Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis made her first public comments on Sunday since a co-defendant of former President Donald Trump alleged she had an inappropriate relationship with a special prosecutor she hired to oversee the case.
The defendant, former Trump campaign staffer Michael Roman, is one of 19 people charged in Willis’ sweeping election subversion case over efforts to undermine Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. Roman filed a bombastic motion last week, accusing Willis of having a secret romantic relationship with top prosecutor Nathan Wade, who has been paid more than $650,000 in legal fees since Jan. 2022.
Roman claimed Willis hired Wade as part of a “self-serving arrangement” that provided financial benefits to both of them. The motion did not include any evidence to back up the claims.
Willis on Sunday spoke about the accusations during a speech at the historic Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta, defending her hiring decisions and calling Wade a man of “impeccable credentials.”
“I’m a little confused. I appointed three special counselors,” Willis said Sunday. “It’s my right to do, paid them all the same hourly rate. They only attack one. I hired one white woman, a good personal friend and a great lawyer, a superstar, I tell you. I hired one white man — brilliant — my friend and a great lawyer. And I hired one Black man, another superstar.”
She did not address any romantic link between the pair but called Wade a “great friend and a great lawyer” who was paid the same rate as two other special prosecutors hired to work on the Trump case.
The motion, she suggested, seemed to be motivated by race.
“First thing they say, ’Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now,” Willis said while reading a letter to the congregation. “But no God, 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,” she added. “My motive, my talent, my ability and my character would be constantly attacked.”
Trump has seized on the legal filing, saying it amounted to evidence that the case should be thrown out as it was now “totally compromised.”
“It’s illegal. What she did is illegal,” the former president claimed, without evidence. “So we’ll let the state handle that, but what a sad situation it is.”
Willis went on to speak about the mental toll the ongoing trial has had on her professional and personal life. She specifically pointed to Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R), who has roundly attacked the district attorney and last week filed a complaint against her.
“I never want to be a Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has never met me but has allowed her spirit to be filled with hate,” Willis read from her letter, addressed to God. “How does this woman, who has the honor of being a leader in my state, how is it that she has not reached out to me?”
The district attorney is expected to respond to Roman’s motion in an upcoming court filing, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.