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Special prosecutor Nathan Wade speaks during a hearing on motions in the election interference case Jan. 12 in Atlanta.
© Elijah Nouvelage/The Washington Post
For Donald Trump, the proceedings in Georgia for attempted election manipulation are particularly dangerous.
Now private matters overshadow the case.
Washington DC - Nathan Wade settled a contentious divorce dispute in the Georgia trial of former US President Donald Trump and his allies on Tuesday.
In doing so, the lead prosecutor in the trial for alleged election interference avoided a hearing that was scheduled for Wednesday morning.
The hearing was expected to examine the improper relationship between Wade and Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis.
Nathan Wade was expected to be questioned under oath about his finances - including his earnings as special prosecutor in the Trump case and his expenses, such as purchasing airline tickets for him and Willis in October 2022 and April 2023.
Willis and Wade's personal lives are suddenly the focus in Georgia
The divorce drew national attention after one of Donald Trump's co-defendants, former campaign aide Mike Roman, accused Willis and Wade of having an "improper, secret personal relationship."
Both allegedly benefited financially from the relationship, leading to calls for their removal from criminal proceedings in Fulton County, Atlanta's hometown.
Both Trump and a third defendant have accepted Roman's request to remove Willis and Wade from the case and drop the charges.
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County records show Wade's firm was paid more than $653,000 over the past two years for its work on the election process.
The last-minute, albeit “tentative,” agreement allows Wade and Willis to avoid testimony that would have been embarrassing for Trump and his co-defendants or given them new evidence or ammunition to undermine the criminal case.
Attorneys for the defendants had planned to watch Wednesday's hearing closely in preparation for a separate hearing Feb. 15 in Fulton County to determine whether the allegations warrant disqualification or dismissal.
However, the settlement does not remove scrutiny of the two prosecutors' alleged actions.
This also does not ensure that the criminal proceedings against Trump and his allies will continue.
Last week, Georgia Senate Republicans created an investigative committee with subpoena power to investigate whether Willis (Democrats) was in a romantic relationship with Wade when she appointed him as special prosecutor.
And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) filed a complaint with the state Ethics Commission seeking an investigation.
Former US President Donald Trump.
© UPI Photo/Imago
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Trump's lawyer accuses prosecutor Willis of violating professional rules
Additionally, Steve Sadow, Trump's lawyer in the Georgia case, accused Willis of violating Georgia professional conduct rules earlier this month when she accused her critics of "playing the race card" in a fiery speech at an Atlanta church.
The rules state that in a criminal case, the prosecutor must “refrain from making extrajudicial statements that are likely to increase public condemnation of the defendant.”
In a motion to remove Willis and dismiss the charges, Sadow noted that the maximum penalty for such a violation is disqualification from office.
Lawyers for Joycelyn Mayfield Wade, Wade's estranged wife, had also sought to question Willis in the case, arguing that she had "unique knowledge" of Wade's finances and marriage.
However, Cobb County Superior Court Judge Henry Thompson, who is overseeing the divorce case, suspended that subpoena during a hearing last week, saying he wanted to hear Wade's testimony first.
Shortly before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Thompson issued a preliminary consent order in which he stated that the hearing was removed from the calendar with the consent of both parties because they had agreed "on all the issues currently before the court."
The agreement will not be filed in court, Thompson said, meaning it may never be made public.
Last week, Wade's divorce lawyer asked the judge to reconsider a request to seal the divorce proceedings, which would have required a public hearing.
It was not immediately clear whether the divorce agreement would prevent the disclosure of other information that could potentially harm Willis or Wade, including evidentiary materials.
Ashleigh Merchant, Roman's defense attorney, has said she plans to subpoena witnesses and documents in the coming days that she says will support her client's claims of an improper romantic relationship between Willis and Wade.
She has indicated she may subpoena documents that were submitted as evidence in the Wades' divorce case and have not been made public.
That trove of documents includes Fulton County records and bank and credit card statements that Joycelyn Wade obtained through Nathan Wade's solo practice, including his clients and income, which she described in court documents as "marital assets."
Nathan Wade's law firm's founding documents list her as a "director" alongside Wade.
She has not been removed from that role, according to public records.
“We are pleased that the parties were able to resolve their dispute,” Merchant said.
“We look forward to hearing our matter on the 15th.”
Merchant also sued the Fulton County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday, accusing the office of "intentionally withholding" from her information she sought under the Georgia state open records law - including records related to the employment of Nathan Wade and retaining other outside counsel in the election matter.
In recent days, Wade's estranged wife has also issued subpoenas directly related to alleged travel by Willis and Wade - including requests for documents and testimony from travel agents.
This month, records emerged showing that Wade has paid for at least two air trips for himself and Willis to California and Aruba since he was hired to lead the Trump prosecution in November 2021.
It is unknown whether Willis paid him back the money.
War of the Roses in the Wade House weighs on Trump proceedings in Georgia
Joycelyn Wade repeatedly accused her estranged husband of refusing to provide a full picture of his finances.
In August, just days after the release of the sweeping indictment in the Trump case, Thompson granted Joycelyn Wade's request to hold Nathan Wade in contempt of court for refusing to release financial records and other information to his wife.
Nathan Wade's attorney, Scott Kimbrough, declined to comment.
Recently released records in the divorce case show that Wade did not immediately disclose his appointment as special prosecutor in the Trump case or his income from that position to his wife or the court.
Wade filed for divorce in November 2021 - a day after he was hired by Willis to lead the election interference investigation.
Joycelyn Wade filed a countersuit that same month, making the first of dozens of demands to see Wade's financial reports and other records.
Wade's initial divorce lawsuit said the couple separated in August 2021.
No specific assets were listed except for the couple's longtime home in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta.
On January 18, 2022, Wade signed an affidavit in which he reported his monthly income as $14,000 - with assets of around $1.1 million and total monthly expenses of $6,000.
The document was filed four days after Fulton County made the first payments to Wade's law firm for his billed hours on the election matter: two payments of $15,000 each on Jan. 14, 2022, covering Wade's work in November and December Cover 2021.
In recent days, a series of court documents indicated that Wade wanted to settle the case.
His attorney twice submitted his client's updated answers to written questionnaires as well as an affidavit from his client - a legal maneuver often used to avoid testifying in open court.
Wade also submitted an updated financial disclosure form, listing his monthly income at around $9,000.
On Tuesday, the settlement was announced in a written order from Thompson, which noted that the scheduled hearing had been canceled - less than 24 hours before it was scheduled to begin.
To the authors
Amy Gardner
has worked at the Post since 2005 and currently covers elections on the Democracy team.
She was part of the team that won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their coverage of the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990 and lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband, Bob.
They have two sons.
Holly Bailey
is the Washington Post's national correspondent in Atlanta, covering the South.
She was previously based in Minneapolis, where she reported on the Upper Midwest.
Since 2019, she has worked for the Post as a national political reporter covering the 2020 presidential campaign.
Bailey reported from Atlanta.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on January 31, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.