1 of 2 | Fulton County District Attorney Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade is shown during a hearing at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Oct. 20. A filings in his divorce case on Friday includes credit card receipts indicating he took trips with Trump prosecutor Fani Willis. File Pool Photo by Alyssa Pointer/EPA-EFE
Jan. 20 (UPI) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis accompanied special prosecutor Nathan Wade on multiple domestic and foreign trips, according to credit card receipts filed as part of his divorce court case.
Willis named Wade the special prosecutor in her sweeping racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants regarding their efforts to overturn the 2020 general election results in Georgia.
Nathan Wade and his estranged wife, Joycelyn Wade, are embroiled in a divorce proceeding in which Willis has been subpoenaed to explain her relationship with Nathan Wade.
Credit card statements showing Wade purchased tickets for himself and Willis to travel San Francisco and Miami in 2022 and 2023 were filed on Friday as part of Joycelyn Wade’s ongoing divorce case in Cobb County, Ga.
Willis is seeking a protective order to block a court-ordered deposition regarding her relationship with Nathan Wade.
Joycelyn Wade’s attorney, Andrea Hastings, “seeks to depose Ms. Willis in order to determine details surrounding her romantic affair with [Nathan Wade] as there appears to be no reasonable explanation for their travels apart from a romantic relationship,” Hastings said in Friday’s divorce court filing.
Willis, she claimed, is making an “implied threat to pursue charges against [Joycelyn Wade] and her counsel,” which Hastings called “an affront to the integrity of her office.”
Willis appointed Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor on Nov. 1, 2021. He filed for divorce a day later, used a process server to serve his wife on Nov. 3 and moved to seal the record before she learned of the relationship between her husband and Willis, Hastings contended.
Nathan Wade didn’t “reveal to [Joycelyn Wade] his appointment by Ms. Willis or the substantial income he has been receiving through his divorce case as a result of that appointment,” the attorney said.
Instead, Nathan Wade left his wife “with little means of financial support while spending tens of thousands of dollars per month on a very lavish lifestyle,” which he allegedly failed to disclose and has resulted in the court holding him in contempt for violating a discovery order, Hasting said in the filing.
The lawyer said credit card receipts show Nathan Wade made several trips to San Francisco, Napa Valley and Florida. He also went on cruises to the Caribbean and took trips to Belize, Panama and Australia and bought tickets to bring Willis with him on several of the trips.
“The evidence is clear that Ms. Willis was an intended travel partner for at least some of these trips as indicated by flights he purchased for her to accompany him,” Hastings said in the filing. “There appears to be no reasonable explanation for their travels apart from a romantic relationship.”
Hastings seeks to depose Willis to affirm the additional financial resources Nathan Wade possesses to better determine potential spousal support and distribution of marital assets.
Willis is heading a criminal racketeering case against Trump in Fulton County District Court. A co-defendant in the case, Michael Roman, has accused Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade of engaging in misconduct by using the matter to enrich themselves at taxpayers’ expense.
Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee scheduled a Feb.15 hearing regarding the alleged improprieties by Nathan Wade and Willis.
Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis told NBC News no elected officials should contract with or hire someone with whom they are engaged in a romantic relationship and accepting gifts from them is “improper.”