Fani Willis addressed the accusations for the first time while giving her speech on Jan 14.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis spoke at the Fulton County Government Center on August 14.
For the first time since she was questioned about her misconduct which involved the qualifications of the special prosecutor Nathan Wade against President Trump’s state case, she publicly addressed the allegations during her speech.
What Were the Allegations?
She was accused by Trump’s Co-defendant, Mike Roman and his lawyer Ashleigh Merchant of misconduct by her improper relation with Wade after she was hired to handle her case against Trump, where he had tried to overturn the 2020 elections in Georgia.
The accusations were based on her involvement in a romantic relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade. According to the accusation, Nathan Wade was an outside lawyer and his qualifications for the case were questioned.
While giving her speech, Willis called Wade a great lawyer and cited his accomplishments against Merchant’s motion where she had mentioned his inexperience in a felony case.
She indirectly took her stand over the accusation at the Big Bethel AME Church while honoring Martin Luther King Jr. a day before the holiday. She rejected the claims of her misconduct.
Her speech was warmly accepted by the congregation of the Church and she thanked the leaders for not being judgmental and didn’t care what others talked about her. However, she did not speak to the reporters after her speech at the church.
Her Speech
She even mentioned her father, who had spent time with King and had written him a letter during the hardship she was going through a week before.
Most of her speech was about conversation with God and her flawed and imperfect self. She even talked about her race and that her every action would be constantly judged.
She even talked about coping with stress and the loneliness that comes with the job along with the dangers of it as she poured her heart into the speech.
She described the incident that took place on Christmas night when she saw the police surrounding her house when a man, purely out of fun, called 911 and told them he had shot a woman. She said she was deeply scared.
While addressing the accusation, she mentioned the fact that she had hired three prosecutors, two whites and one black, but the defense had not raised any fingers on the qualifications of the two whites, indirectly mentioning the racial discrimination.
Merchant’s motion also addressed incidents of their relation and trips together which wasn’t proved, and that Willis’s hiring wasn’t by the approval of county leaders.
Pete Skandalakis, the Executive Director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council, cleared it by saying the district attorneys had the right to hire special prosecutors without seeking permission.
In the filing, Merchant also mentioned the payments to Wade summing up to $654000 in 2022 and 2023 but the district attorney’s office had already authorized the funds.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee was still awaiting a response from the district Attorney’s office to decide a hearing on Roman’s motion in February.
Trump, who is facing 13 charges for his Georgia election case, used Roman’s allegations for his dismissal from the case and argued that Willis’s allegations are uncompromised.
This ongoing case is not just a fight by Fani Willis against Trump but also against the accusations over her reputation as a woman along with her race.
