by Tamar Hallerman and Bill Rankin at Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fulton County’s district attorney on Thursday fired back at allegations she has engaged in an “improper” relationship with her top deputy, accusing his estranged wife of trying to obstruct her prosecution of Donald Trump and his allies.
Fani Willis has been subpoenaed to give a pretrial deposition in the divorce case of Nathan and Joycelyn Wade on January 23, but in a blistering court filing on Thursday the DA’s attorney said that subpoena should be quashed.
Joycelyn Wade “has conspired with interested parties in the criminal election interference case to use the civil discovery process to annoy, embarrass and oppress District Attorney Willis,” argued Cinque Axam on Willis’ behalf.
Questions about the DA and special prosecutor Nathan Wade burst into public view last week when Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for Trump codefendant Mike Roman, contended in a court filing that the two were in a romantic relationship. Merchant also alleged, without providing proof, that Willis has benefited financially from the relationship, with the DA going on “lavish” vacations paid by Wade with money he made from Fulton County.
Merchant did not include evidence of the alleged relationship between Willis and Wade but suggested that it was tied up in Wade’s divorce case, the documents for which have been sealed. A hearing on whether to unseal the proceedings is scheduled for January 31 in Cobb County Superior Court. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and 14 other media outlets have filed a motion asking to unseal the divorce records.
Willis noted that on January 8,…