Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis is seeking to avoid being deposed in the divorce proceeding of a colleague she is accused of having an affair with. In an emergency motion Thursday, Willis asked a judge to block the subpoena in the divorce case of Nathan Wade, a lawyer in private practice whom she hired as a special prosecutor in the election case involving former President Trump case. Wade's wife, Joycelyn, filed the subpoena for Willis' testimony, reports the Wall Street Journal. Thursday’s motion marks the first time Willis responded in court to allegations that Willis was dating Wade when she awarded him a lucrative contract to help prosecute the former president and that Willis herself benefited financially from the arrangement. In the Thursday court filing, it said that 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.”
“Defendant Joycelyn Wade is using the legal process to harass and embarrass District Attorney Willis, and in doing so, is obstructing and interfering” with the Trump case, said Willis’s lawyer, Cinque Axam. Last year, Willis, a Democrat, announced an indictment against Trump and 18 others, alleging a criminal enterprise to overturn Trump’s 2020 defeat in Georgia. They all pleaded not guilty, but four co-defendants have since agreed to plea deals with Willis’s office. Judge Scott McAfee hasn’t set a trial date. The case took a turn Jan. 8, when Trump co-defendant Michael Roman filed the motion alleging Willis and Wade should be removed from the case because of their alleged romantic entanglement. Roman’s lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, didn’t provide proof of a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade, but she said sealed records from Wade’s divorce proceeding from his wife would substantiate her allegations. She has asked a judge to make those records public. On Thursday, McAfee set a hearing on the Roman motion for Feb. 15, and Willis has been ordered to respond to Roman’s filing by Feb. 2.