(WXIA) The Atlanta judge overseeing the election interference case against former President Donald Trump and 14 others will hear evidence next month tied to allegations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade engaged in an improper romantic relationship and committed other forms of misconduct.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee set the hearing for Feb. 15. He's also given the Fulton County District Attorney's Office a Feb. 2 deadline to file a written response to the allegations made by Trump codefendant Mike Roman and his legal team.
They seek to have Willis, Wade and the Fulton County District Attorney's Office disqualified and dismissed from the case, alleging that Wade and Willis took part in an "improper, clandestine personal relationship.”
Roman's legal team further argues that the indictment is "invalid and unconstitutional" because Willis lacked the power to appoint Wade, who assisted in obtaining the indictment.
"The district attorney and the special prosecutor have been engaged in an improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency of this case, which has resulted in the special prosecutor, and, in turn, the district attorney, profiting significantly from this prosecution at the expense of the taxpayers," a portion of Roman's Jan. 8 motion reads. "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."
Roman's filing offered no concrete proof to support the allegations.
Willis did not directly address the romance allegations during a Sunday speech at Atlanta’s historic Big Bethel A.M.E. Church, and a spokesperson for her office declined to answer questions from 11Alive earlier this week.
"As I have repeatedly stated to the media, these matters were filed in a motion to the court, and the response from our office must come in a responsive filing to that motion," said spokesperson Jeff DiSantis. "We will limit our comment on this matter and all other motions filed by defendants to statements made in motions and in court."
Attorneys for Willis filed a motion Thursday to block a subpoena in Nathan Wade's divorce case in Cobb County. They allege Jocelyn Wade, Nathan's estranged wife, "conspired with interested parties in the criminal Election Interference Case to use the civil discovery process to annoy, embarrass, and oppress" Willis.
Willis' attorneys also argue that she can provide no relevant information to the case.
"Because the parties agree that the marriage is irretrievably broken and the concept of fault is not at issue, there is no information that District Attorney Willis could provide that might prove relevant to granting or denying the divorce. Thus, any information sought from District Attorney Willis would be irrelevant to the divorce proceedings pending in this Court," Willis' attorneys wrote in the motion.
Multiple media outlets, including 11Alive, are seeking to unseal records in the divorce case.
This is not the first time Nathan Wade's conduct has been called into question.
In a 2020 lawsuit filed on behalf of 11Alive, Wade testified that kept no written records during a five-month period where was leading a third-party investigation of jail deaths in Cobb County. Wade also claimed that he destroyed notes.
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