Donald Trump is being ultra-aggressive in trying to stop the criminal case against him in Georgia before it can really get started.
On Thursday, the former president moved to adopt a motion that one of his co-defendants put forward that would ultimately dismiss the racketeering case that was brought against them in Georgia. The motion also would disqualify Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, for misconduct she allegedly partook in.
On January 8, Michael Roman — one of the 18 defendants in the case — filed a motion claiming that Willis gave a “lucrative” contract to special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who is allegedly her lover.
This contract, which paid Wade handsomely for his work on the case, ended up benefitting her directly, as he allegedly paid for multiple vacations for the two of them out of the funds that he received for his role in the case.
In their own filing this week, Trump’s legal team pointed to a speech that Willis gave at Big Bethel AME Church after the allegations were brought forth, saying it was a “glaring, flagrant and calculated effort to foment racial bias into this case.”
As the motion explains:
“The awesome power to prosecute ought never to be manipulated for personal or political profit. In addition to the extensive misconduct alleged in Roman’s motion, the DA did just that in her speech by wrongfully inserting racial animus into this case to publicly denounce and rebuke the defendants, and to defend her personal and political reputation against the numerous and diverse allegations Roman made in his court filing.”
Willis claimed in that speech that she paid an identical hourly rate to all three of the special prosecutors that she brought on to help with the case.
That being said, the Daily Caller News Foundation dug deeper and found that Wade received $250 per hour, while John Floyd only got $200 per hour. Those wages were paid as recently as last May, even though Floyd is widely considered the top racketeering expert in the state of Georgia.
The situation certainly looks bad for Willis, as much of the information has now come out in public court filings.
Jocelyn Wade, Nathan Wade’s wife, made court filings of her own in January as part of their divorce case. Part of those filings were bank statements that showed that Nathan Wade purchased flight tickets to both San Francisco and Miami in Willis’ name.
Philip Hollway, a legal analyst and criminal defense attorney in Atlanta, spoke to the DCNF about the situation. He said these bank statements show “that the money that was paid to [Nathan Wade] benefited [Willis] in the form of lifestyle purchases.”
He added:
“I think it supports the allegations made by Roman. It connects the dots and follows the money from the coffers of the Fulton DA’s office back to Willis in the form of costs of personal travel.”
All of this certainly looks bad for Willis, but it doesn’t necessarily mean she will be removed from the case or that the case itself will be thrown out.
