Trump Georgia prosecutor paid for trips with Fulton County DA, documents show

by Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee - 01/19/24 5:31 PM ET

A special prosecutor in former President Trump’s Georgia criminal case paid for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) to accompany him on flights to San Francisco and Miami as the office investigated Trump, the prosecutor’s wife alleged in their ongoing divorce case on Friday.

The documents include bank statements that appear to show special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s purchases of multiple flights for him and Willis in the months before they charged Trump, his fourth indictment. An attorney for Wade’s wife accused the duo of being in a romantic relationship.

One of Trump’s co-defendants made the same accusation last week, asserting that the allegations have rendered the sweeping racketeering indictment “fatally defective.”

The accusations have given new fodder to attacks on the prosecution from Republicans as well as Trump and his co-defendants, although it remains unclear that it will impact the former president’s case.

Last week, Willis was subpoenaed in the ongoing divorce case between Wade and his wife, Joycelyn, which began in 2021. Willis is now attempting to avoid sitting for a deposition, and Friday’s documents were filed as a response to the district attorney’s efforts.

“Defendant seeks to depose Ms. Willis in order to determine details surrounding her romantic affair with Plaintiff, as there appears to be no reasonable explanation for their travels apart from a romantic relationship,” Andrea Hastings, an attorney for Joycelyn Wade, wrote in the documents, which were obtained by The Hill.

District Attorney for Fulton County, Fani Willis speaks during an Associated Press interview on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Wade in October 2022 purchased a trip for him and Willis to fly from Atlanta to Miami, the bank statements show. In April 2023, Wade purchased tickets for them to fly from Atlanta to San Francisco, and the statements show transactions at a Napa Valley hotel dated a few weeks later. The flight purchases were for economy seats, the statements indicate.

“The evidence is clear that Ms. Willis was an intended travel partner for at least some of these trips as indicated by flights he purchased for her to accompany him,” Hastings wrote in the filing.

A coalition of media outlets that have filed to unseal the records in the divorce case separately obtained the documents earlier on Friday.

The district attorney’s office has repeatedly declined to comment on the romance accusations and indicated it will respond in court documents. In Trump’s case, Willis is due to address the accusations in writing by Feb. 2.

The Hill has reached out to Willis’s attorney for comment.

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Willis earlier in the week had pushed back on the demand for her to sit for a deposition, insisting it was to harass her and was coordinated to interfere with her prosecution.

“Contrary to Ms. Wills’s belief, the Defendant is not utilizing the deposition to harass her but rather to seek pertinent information from her husband’s paramour regarding her relationship with Plaintiff and the extent of the Plaintiff’s financial involvement in the same,” Wade’s wife’s attorney wrote, adding that Willis’s answers would help ensure an equitable division of their assets.

Mike Roman, the defendant who originally brought attention to the alleged relationship, has asked a judge to dismiss the case against him and block Willis, Wade and the Fulton County district attorney’s office writ large from further involvement in the case. Roman was a Trump 2020 campaign operative and has pleaded not guilty to the seven counts he faces.

Roman, Trump and a slew of other Trump allies are accused of entering a criminal enterprise bent on keeping the former president in the White House after he lost the 2020 election.

Tags Donald Trump Fani Willis Fani Willis Fulton County Georgia