The prosecutor responsible for investigating the case against Donald Trump in the US state of Georgia admitted on Friday to having had a romantic relationship with a lawyer she had hired to work on the case, but denied any conflict of interest.
For the former US president, who is indicted in this southern state for illicit actions aimed at reversing the results of the 2020 election, the relationship between prosecutor Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade constitutes on the contrary sufficient reason so that the charges against him are dropped.
“Unfounded” request
But, in a court document, Fani Willis considered this request to be
“unfounded”
and urged the judge responsible for its examination to reject it.
According to the prosecutor, there was no relationship with Nathan Wade when she recruited him in November 2021. The latter, currently in divorce proceedings, declared in a court document that he had started this relationship with Fani Willis in 2022, and claimed to have
“derived no funds or personal financial gain from his role as special prosecutor
. ”
Donald Trump, favorite in the Republican primaries for the November presidential election, has pleaded not guilty in this Georgia affair.
In a publication on his Truth Social platform on Friday, the billionaire asserts - in capital letters - that Fani Willis' statement
"means that this scam is completely discredited and finished"
.
Fani Willis proposed in November that the trial of the ex-president and his 14 co-defendants begin on August 5, 2024, three months before the presidential election.
Four of the 19 defendants initially targeted by the indictment issued on August 14, notably under a Georgia law on organized gang crime used by the prosecutor, have already pleaded guilty.
They were sentenced to reduced sentences, without prison time, in exchange for their testimony at the future trial of the other defendants.
Donald Trump also faces several federal charges for attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, surrounding the storming of the Capitol in Washington by his supporters on January 6, 2021.
This trial is scheduled to begin in March in the American capital, but will probably be postponed.
The ex-president was also federally indicted in Florida, where he is accused of negligence in handling confidential documents after leaving the White House.
This trial is scheduled to begin on May 20.