Georgia Judge Needs More Time To Decide Fate Of Trump Prosecutor Fani Willis

The Georgia judge overseeing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ election subversion case against former President Donald Trump has said he expects to decide within the next two weeks whether Willis and her office may continue to prosecute it.

Attorneys for Trump and other co-defendants accused Willis of corruption, saying she improperly hired attorney Nathan Wade as one of three special prosecutors in the sprawling racketeering suit. Willis and Wade admitted to having a past romantic relationship in February after it was unearthed in January.

“I think it’s been very much made clear by the argument made today that there are several legal issues to sort through, several factual determinations I have to make, and those aren’t ones I can make at this moment,” Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee said Friday after listening to closing arguments from both sides. “And so I will be taking the time to make sure that I give this case the full consideration it’s due.”

Willis has forcefully defended herself from accusations of impropriety.

John Merchant, an attorney for co-defendant Michael Roman, argued that the district attorney hired “her boyfriend” and paid him with public funds; thus when the pair had taken trips together, Merchant suggested it had been on the public’s dime.

“She put her boyfriend in the spot, paid him, and then reaped the benefits of it,” Merchant said Friday.

Roman is a Republican opposition researcher who worked on Trump’s failed 2020 presidential campaign.

Willis maintained that she and Wade split costs evenly throughout their relationship, which she said began in the spring of 2022 — after she’d hired Wade, in November 2021. (The relationship ended last summer, Willis said.)

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