Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting former President Donald Trump and others connected to him, is facing accusations she violated ethics rules by appointing her married lover as chief prosecutor on the case. The accusation was raised in a pleading filed on Monday by a lawyer for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign staff member who also faces charges in the case along with 13 others. A bar complaint was filed with the State Bar of Georgia.
On Tuesday, Trump reacted to the news, calling Willis “totally compromised” and stating that the case “must be dropped.” He added, “It’s illegal. What she did is illegal. So we’ll let the state handle that, but what a sad situation it is.”
Roman’s lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, said she could find no evidence that prosecutor Nathan Wade had ever prosecuted a felony case; his background was as a defense attorney and municipal judge. He was paid over $650,000 on the case, and since he took Willis on lavish vacations, the pleading alleges that Willis profited from appointing him to that position.
Andrew Fleischman, a criminal defense attorney in Atlanta, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that if true, the arrangement violates legal ethics rules. “If you are giving money to somebody who appears to be unqualified, and they are giving you some of that money back in the form of summer vacations, then you’re financially benefiting from your prosecution,” he said. “That’s a conflict of interest.” He said if Willis is found to be disqualified, it could disqualify the entire office from the prosecution.
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