NEW YORK (Dagbladet): On Monday, a judge in Georgia decided to make public court documents in the divorce case of the special prosecutor, who is responsible for the trial against Trump and the other defendants, reports AP.
It comes after Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade is accused of having an affair with his boss, Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis.
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19 defendants
Trump and 18 other people were indicted last year for trying to sway the 2020 election results in Georgia. One of the defense attorneys in the case has filed a document with the court alleging that the alleged relationship between Wade and Willis was inappropriate and a conflict of interest, and that the charges must therefore be dismissed.
Potentially, the accusations of a romance could thus have major consequences for one of the four criminal cases in which the ex-president is now charged.
Compared to the mafia
According to the plan, Willis was also supposed to have given a witness statement in the case on Tuesday, but this has now been postponed. So far, Willis has defended the hiring of Wade, who does not have much experience as a prosecutor. However, she has not directly denied that the two have had a romantic relationship.
– Threatens to undermine
Last year, Trump and his co-accused were prosecuted under the law, which is used in cases related to organized crime. Trump, for his part, denies criminal guilt in the case and claims the whole thing is a political witch hunt.
It was defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Trump’s former campaign staffer and White House adviser, Michael Roman, who made the allegations of a romantic relationship in court documents earlier this month.
Released from horror prison
– The accusations from Roman threaten to undermine one of the most complex and high-profile criminal cases against Trump before the presidential election in November, writes The Guardian.
The Republican governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, has previously been very reticent to intervene in the matter. Now he takes the blade from his mouth.
“These allegations are deeply disturbing and evidence should be presented as soon as possible to Judge McAffee so that he can make a decision and the public can have confidence in this trial,” Kemp said, according to Atlanta Constitutional-Journal.
The documents show, among other things, how Wade bought plane tickets in Willis’s name. The lawyers of Wade’s soon-to-be ex-wife, Joycelyn Wade, also believe that “there does not seem to be any reasonable explanation for their travels other than a romantic relationship.”
– She is trying to hide behind the shield of her position, says Joycelyn Wade’s lawyer, Andrea Dyer Hastings, according to AP.
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Profited
In the accusation from Roman’s lawyer, it is claimed that Willis himself profited financially from hiring Nathan Wade. Wade has been paid 653,000 dollars (about NOK 6,856,000) for his work on the trial. He is said to have used some of this money on tickets for himself and Willis.
According to Roman’s accusation, this constitutes a conflict of interest, which should lead to the indictment being dismissed.
In court documents Friday, Hastings claims Nathan Wade paid for at least two trips to Miami and to Napa Valley, California, for himself and Willis. At the same time he bought the first flight from Atlanta to Miami, he also allegedly booked cruise tickets without a name.
Wins on charges
However, a lawyer for Willis, Cinque Axam, believes that the divorce trial should only decide how assets should be distributed, and that it has nothing to do with Willis.
Willis is scheduled to answer those charges in court in February.
Four of Trump’s co-accused have already pleaded guilty in the case and entered into agreements with the prosecutors. Trump and 14 other defendants have pleaded not guilty.