The muck deepens in Trump criminal RICO case in Georgia as DA Fani Willis fails to disclose lavish gifts from special prosecutor she hired to help lead the case

Fani Willis and Nathan Wade

 

Georgia district attorney Fani Willis failed to disclose gifts she received from an attorney she hired to serve as special prosecutor in the criminal RICO case against Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump and 17 codefendants, according to a report at donaldwatkins.com. Failure to disclose the gifts could lead to significant legal problems for Willis and Nathan Wade, who are leading probably the most important court case in America at the moment-- one that largely is considered the most difficult legal challenge facing Trump and possibly the one most likely to upend his hopes of winning back the White House in the 2024 election against Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.

Watkins, a longtime Alabama attorney and one of the nation's foremost authorities on criminal defense, writes under the headline "Fani Willis' Financial Disclosure Report for 2022 Fails to List Thousands of Dollars in Gifts Lavished Upon Her by Special Prosecutor Nathan J. Wade":

Fani Willis’ Financial Disclosure Report for 2022 fails to list thousands of dollars in airfare, hotel bookings, luxury vacation packages, and other gifts that special prosecutor Nathan J. Wade lavished upon Willis during 2022.

On her “Fulton County Income and Financial Disclosure Report” for 2022, Willis was asked in Section B (3) whether she received a “gift or favor from a single prohibited source in the aggregate amount of $100.00 or more.” A “prohibited source” is any person who is “doing business with the county” or “has interests that may be affected by the performance or non-performance of official duties by the officer or employee” who received the gift.

In Willis' answer to this question, she reported, “None.”

Willis’ Financial Disclosure Report is an annual filing mandated by the Fulton County Code of Ethics (2004). It applies to all elected officials of Fulton County.

The Report for 2022 was signed by Willis and filed on April 17, 2023.

Documents from Wade's divorce case contradict the answer on Willis' financial-disclosure form, Watkins reports:

Credit-card statements disclosed earlier this month in Nathan J. Wade’s divorce proceedings document thousands of dollars in "gifts" from Wade to Willis in 2022.

Willis hired Wade as a special prosecutor in November 2021 to work on the Donald Trump RICO case in Atlanta. Since then, Willis has personally approved nearly $700,000 in payments to Wade and his law firm.

The lavish gifts from Wade to Willis started after he was hired by Willis.

Willis and Wade are reportedly "lovers," as well. There is no provision in the Fulton County Code of Ethics that exempts a "lover/public official" from reporting his/her receipt of gifts of $100 or more from his/her "lover/romantic vendor partner."

What are the possible repercussions from these latest revelations? They are serious, Watkins writes:

Fani Willis’ receipt of thousands of dollars in unreported gifts from Wade in 2022 is a huge legal problem for both Willis and Wade. There is no provision in state or federal law that authorizes a prosecutor to commit an ethics violation in the pursuit of a criminal prosecution against any individual.

Typically, the Fulton County District Attorney's Office would be responsible for enforcing the Fulton County Code of Ethics. In this case, however, the District Attorney, herself, is one of the apparent violators.

It is unknown whether the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta is investigating this matter. They would have jurisdiction to do so.

The situation with Fani T. Willis and Nathan J. Wade is one hot mess.