Georgia prosecutor on Trump case paid for trips with District Attorney Willis on his credit card, court filing shows

CNN

By Jason Morris and Zachary Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — The special prosecutor hired by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to pursue the criminal case against former President Donald Trump bought tickets for Willis to accompany him on at least two out-of-state trips, records released Friday show.

A Friday motion filed in Cobb County Superior Court by Joycelyn Wade in her divorce case with the special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, includes copies of credit card statements that show he purchased airline tickets for him and Willis, including trips to Miami in October 2022 and San Francisco in April 2023.

The motion comes as a Fulton County commissioner has launched an inquiry into allegations that Willis misused county funds and “accepted valuable gifts and personal benefits” from Nathan Wade, according to a letter obtained by CNN.

CNN has reached out to Willis’ office for comment.

The district attorney suggested in a court filing Thursday that Joycelyn Wade is using the divorce proceedings to harass the district attorney and damage her reputation and is “obstructing and interfering with an ongoing criminal prosecution.” Willis brought the sprawling racketeering indictment against Trump and his associates last year over their actions in Georgia following the 2020 election.

Willis said in her filing that Joycelyn Wade has been separated from her husband for more than two years and “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.”

“Contrary to Ms. Willis’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,” Joycelyn’s Wade’s attorneys responded in Friday’s motion.

“These answers are relevant to the equitable division of the marital estate, dissipation of marital assets, and the Plaintiff’s capacity to provide spousal support,” they added.

Willis has received a subpoena to appear at a deposition as part of the divorce proceedings on Tuesday. And on January 31, there is a hearing at Cobb County Superior Court regarding whether to unseal the records in the divorce case.

Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis, a Republican who chairs the county audit committee, is also asking Willis about allegations that she is having a undisclosed romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, that he lacks “relevant prosecutorial experience in a case of this type and complexity,” and that he paid for her portion of “joint leisure travel,” according to a Friday letter.

“This situation requires confirmation of whether County funds provided for the operation of your office and its prosecutorial function were used in an appropriate manner, and whether any payments of County funds to Mr. Wade were converted to your personal gain in the form of subsidized travel or other gifts,” Ellis wrote.

Ellis asked Willis to turn over contracts with special prosecutors, invoices and payments, among other information.

The Fulton County judge overseeing the Georgia election subversion case has also set a February 15 hearing to consider another motion seeking to disqualify Willis over allegations of an “improper” relationship with Nathan Wade.

Those allegations against Willis and Wade came in a 127-page court filing earlier this month from an attorney for Mike Roman, a former Trump 2020 campaign official who was indicted over his role in the fake electors plot in Georgia.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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