Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has found herself in hot water among serious ethical questions regarding her handling of the Trump “racketeering” case in connection to his legal challenges of the 2020 election.
Willis stands accused of hiring a private lawyer she was in a ‘romantic’ relationship with to prosecute Donald Trump. The scandalous charges are included in a filing by Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign staffer accused of participating in the so-called ‘fake electors’ plan as one of 18 persons indicted with Trump.
The private attorney, Nathan Wade, was paid more than $600,000 as a special prosecutor to aid the Fulton County DA’s extensive investigation of Trump’s 2020 election challenges.
Fani Willis responded to the breathtaking evidence of official corruption and legal ethics violations in a public appearance.
“All the glory I receive, it’s his grace. Not a perfect need,” she said. “We are at a time in history. People hear me on this. We are at a time in history when you can no longer sit back and just let other folks do it. You cannot expect black women to be perfect and save the world.”
“The Lord is completing us,” she added. “We are not perfect. We need your prayers. We need to be allowed to stumble. We need grace. With that kind of support, we will move mountains and do Jesus’s will stumbling all the way.”
“So his flawed, hardheaded, and imperfect child has a message,” Willis went on. “For each of you today, please find a way to do your extraordinary God given assignment and make this community and the world a better place for all of his people.” (Read more: Conservative Brief, 1/14/2024) (Archive)
During her remarks Sunday, which were livestreamed, Willis repeatedly referred to herself as “flawed” and “imperfect.”
Willis also said she was “a little confused” why so many questioned the decision to bring in multiple special prosecutors to the case, and though she never mentioned Wade by name, she called him a “great friend” who was paid equally to others while extensively defending his “impeccable credentials” for the job — suggesting the attacks on him were motivated by race.
“I appointed three special counselors. It’s my right to do. Paid them all the same hourly rate,” Willis said. “They only attack one. I hired one white woman: a good personal friend and great lawyer, a superstar, I tell you. I hired one white man: brilliant, my friend, and a great lawyer. And I hired one Black man, another superstar, a great friend, and a great lawyer.”
Willis never denied or directly addressed the allegations she and Wade had an inappropriate relationship. She continued to tout Wade’s résumé, saying he was paid more than double when hired by a Republican in another county, and that he “served as a prosecutor, a criminal defense lawyer, special assistant attorney general.”
“Isn’t it them playing the race card when they only question one?” she said.
Speaking for more than 30 minutes, Willis’ emotional speech Sunday detailed at length the difficulties she has faced in her position as Fulton County DA and prosecuting the Trump case. She spoke about feeling “isolation,” “loneliness,” “backstabbing” and facing constant death threats that have forced her out of her home.
“I am tired of being treated cruelly,” she said.
Willis read a letter she said she wrote to God this week in which she said felt “unworthy” of the job: “Lord, even right now, I continue to feel unworthy of the honor,” she said as she read the letter, while appearing to get choked up. (Read more: ABC News, 1/14/2024) (Archive)