Atlanta, Georgia (AP) – In the divorce involving a special prosecutor hired in the election case against Donald Trump and others, records from the court were ordered to be made public by a judge on Monday. The prosecutor was accused of having an affair with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
However, there were no mentions of the affair claims that have sparked a lawsuit accusing Trump and 18 associates of trying to reverse their defeat in the state’s 2020 election. This information was not included in the recently released court documents.
The judge granted the defense attorney’s request to unseal the divorce case involving special prosecutor Nathan Wade, citing an improper relationship between Wade and Willis. In the divorce case, the judge also postponed deciding whether or not Willis must appear in person for questioning; but, she did not postpone her Tuesday deposition.
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Willis hasn’t explicitly disputed having a romantic relationship, but she has defended employing Wade despite his lack of prosecutorial expertise. By attempting to question her during the couple’s divorce process, she has accused Wade’s former wife of attempting to thwart her criminal election interference case against Trump and others.
The front-runner in the Republican primary and others are using the affair allegations to attack Wade’s credentials as a prosecutor, which poses a threat to the prosecution. Trump has entered a not-guilty plea, refuted any misconduct, and stated that the accusations are politically motivated.
On the same day that defense lawyer Ashleigh Merchant—who represents former Trump campaign staffer and former White House aide Michael Roman—filed a motion earlier this month claiming a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade, Willis received a subpoena to appear for a deposition in the divorce case.
Wade purchased airline tickets in Willis’ name, according to court documents, and Joycelyn Wade’s attorney has stated that there “appears to be no reasonable explanation for their travels apart from a romantic relationship.” On Monday, Joycelyn Wade’s attorney, Andrea Dyer Hastings, informed the judge that they thought Willis had some “unique personal knowledge” about the divorce and that he ought to be questioned.
Hastings described Willis as “trying to hide under the shield of her position.”
Willis’s attorney, Cinque Axam, stated that the subject of the court’s decision is the division of the marital assets; Willis is not involved in Nathan Wade’s financial decisions or the sharing of any accounts with him.
Judge Henry Thompson stated at a quick hearing in Cobb County Superior Court that he cannot make a decision regarding Willis’s need to take a deposition in the divorce lawsuit until Wade is questioned later this month. He declared that the divorce case’s court records had to be made available to the public, citing an earlier judge’s illegal sealing of the case without a hearing.
In court documents submitted on Friday, Joycelyn Wade’s attorney stated that Nathan Wade has traveled to Australia, Belize, Panama, San Francisco, and the Napa Valley, among other places.
Willis “was an intended travel partner for at least some of these trips as indicated by flights he purchased for her to accompany him,” according to the report, which details his Caribbean cruises since he filed for divorce.
According to credit card data included in the petition, Nathan Wade purchased airline tickets for himself and Willis to fly to Miami in October 2022 and San Francisco in April after being appointed special prosecutor.
As he attempts to win back the presidency, Trump is dealing with four cases. To keep the former president in power, prosecutors are accusing him, his attorneys, and other advisers of engaging in a “criminal enterprise” using legislation often applied to mafia figures. In the Georgia election case, four defendants have already entered guilty pleas after striking agreements with the prosecution. The other fifteen, which includes Trump and Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, have entered not-guilty pleas.