Fani Willis defends prosecutor on Trump case after relationship claims

Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, seemed to acknowledge for the first time theallegations of an affair directed at her during her address to a church congregation. She also defended the special prosecutor she appointed for the election interference case involving former president Donald Trump, without directly naming him.

“I hope for y’all this week I don’t look like what I’ve been through,” she joked at the Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church during a service to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day on Sunday.

She thanked the leaders of the historically Black church in Atlanta who “didn’t care what they said about me” and told her “the invite was still good” to speak.

Last week, Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign staffer and onetime White House aide, filed a motion against Ms Willis. The motion alleges that she “engaged in a personal, romantic relationship” with one of the top prosecutors — Nathan Wade — whom she brought in to work on the case, which allegedly resulted in financial gain for both of them.

In the court filing, Ms Willis was accused of having potentially committed “an act to defraud the public of honest services” based on her “intentional failure” to disclose the alleged relationship that she “personally benefitted from”.

On Sunday, during her live-streamed address, Ms Willis called herself “flawed” and “imperfect”.

She never mentioned Mr Wade by name and instead referred to him as a “great friend” and said that he had “impeccable credentials” for the job.

She suggested that racism was at the heart of claims against her.

“They are going to be mad when I call them out on this nonsense,” Ms Willis said. “First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s going