ATLANTA — A codefendant in the Georgia election interference case is digging in even further in his allegations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was having an “improper relationship” with the special prosecutor heading up the case against former President Donald Trump and several of his allies, and continued his calls to have her removed from the case.
In a new motion obtained by Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne that was filed by Michael Roman and his attorney Ashleigh Merchant, they laid out even more accusations against Willis and Wade.
The filing claims Willis has used “the media” to start trying the defendants in this case in the public sphere before any charges were filed.
“Over the past several years, the district attorney has (used) the media to turn the screws on each of the defendants long before any trial juror was called to serve. These media appearances by a publicly-elected prosecutor are incredibly improper, but more importantly, they were designed to tear down the defendants’ pre-trial constitutional protections,” the filing said. “This case should be, and could have been, tried on the evidence admitted at trial. Because of the actions of the district attorney, however, that is no longer possible. The damage is already done.”
The filing mentions how Willis was interviewed in a recently published book, “giving the authors of the book access to her staff and allowing them to publish the book prior to the trial of this case.”
“She granted this unprecedented media access so she could taint the jury pool, thus making a conviction much more likely, and use the conviction to open doors to a new political future. And she wanted her rise to fame documented for the world to see,” the filing said.
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The court document points to Wade and Willis’ admission to having a relationship and claims that they did not have a personal, romantic relationship prior to naming Wade as special prosecutor, and says attorney Terrance Bradley has personal knowledge of the relationship.
“Bradley has non-privileged, personal knowledge that the romantic relationship between Wade and Willis began prior to Willis being sworn as the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia in January 2021. Thus, Bradley can confirm that Willis contracted with Wade after Wade and Willis began a romantic relationship, thus rebutting Wade’s claim in his affidavit that they did not start dating until 2022,” the filing said. “Bradley obtained information about the relationship between Wade and Willis directly from Wade when Wade was not seeking legal advice from Bradley. Bradley obtained this information in a personal capacity as Wade’s friend prior to Wade’s decision to file for divorce.”
The filing also lists a personal friend of Willis, Robin Yeartie, as proving Willis and Wade were using a “safe house” to stay the night with each other.
“Yeartie and Willis lived together for a time in a residence in the East Point/Hapeville area of Fulton County. When Yeartie moved out, Willis continued living at the residence. Bradley will confirm that Willis and Wade stayed together at this apartment until Yeartie’s employment was terminated in the Fall of 2022, at which time Willis and Wade began staying in what was known commonly as a ‘safehouse’ that Fulton County, Georgia rented for Willis. Willis and Wade stayed together at both residences regularly,” the filing said.
The document details trips that Wade and Willis are alleged to have taken.
“On October 28, 2022, Wade and Willis flew to Miami and boarded the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas cruise to the Bahamas. Wade paid for Willis’ flight from Atlanta to Miami and their shared cruise cabin. Wade paid a total of $1,201.60 to American Airlines for both flights. Wade paid $1,387.70 for their shared cabin on the ship. He also paid an additional $992.28 to Royal Caribbean during this cruise. In total, Wade paid $3,581.58 for this vacation. This does not include transportation and other fees that appear to be related to this trip,” the document said.
It also lays out the expenses paid out for other trips the two are to have made together that include Aruba, the Bahamas, Belize and the Napa Valley in California.
The documents also goes on to reiterate claims that Willis threw race into the case with her speech over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend at Big Bethel AME church.
To read the entire filing, we have embedded it below (article continues below filing):
In a previous interview with Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray, Georgia State University law professor Clark Cunningham said the acknowledgment of the relationship between Willis and Wade in a court filing last week means defense attorneys will have ammo to fight that point in a lengthy court battle unless Willis takes a leave of absence.
“I think this is going to be a long, complicated issue, and it’s going to delay this case terribly. And that kind of delay is bad for the case. It’s bad for the public,” Cunningham said.
In her response filed in court against the initial accusations brought up by Roman and his attorney, Willis called the efforts to remove her “meritless.”
“While the allegations raised in the various motions are salacious and garnered the media attention they were designed to obtain, none provide this Court with any basis upon which to order the relief they seek,” the filing said.
The filing also claimed there was no financial relationship between the DA and Wade.
Willis’s reply also included a picture of Merchant wearing a Wade campaign shirt in Wade’s race for a judge seat, with prosecutors writing, “Counsel for defendant Roman, of course, is well-familiar with the experience and qualifications of Special Prosecutor Wade.”
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is going to hear the arguments on the motion to remove Willis on Feb. 15.
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