Fani Willis says deputy’s estranged wife ‘interfering’ with prosecution of Trump

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has pushed back on allegations that she has had an “improper” relationship with her deputy, instead accusing his estranged wife of attempting to interfere with their prosecution of Donald Trump.

Ms Willis has been issued a subpoena to sit for a pretrial deposition in the divorce case of special prosecutor Nathan Wade and his wife Joycelyn Wade on 23 January. On Thursday, Ms Willis’s lawyer said in a filing that the subpoena should be dismissed.

Attorney Cinque Axam, representing Ms Willis, argued that Ms 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”.

Last week, Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Mike Roman, one of Mr Trump’s co-defendants, argued in a filing that Ms Willis and Mr Wade were in a relationship. Ms Merchant argued that Ms Willis has financially benefitted from the relationship without providing evidence for her claims, TheAtlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

But on Friday, a filing in the divorce case, which has been ongoing since February 2022, showed that Mr Wade paid for two trips alongside Ms Willis during the investigation.

Mr Wade bought tickets for himself and the district attorney in October 2022 for a trip to Miami and in April last year to fly to San Francisco.

The statements showing the transactions were filed by lawyers for Mr Wade’s estranged wife as part of an effort to compel Ms Willis to testify, which she attempted to avoid in her Thursday filing. The new filing could corroborate allegations facing Ms Willis and Mr Wade by Mr Roman regarding their supposed improper relationship.

Mr Roman, a former Trump campaign