Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis urged her former lover and special prosecutor Nathan Wade to remain silent in his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, Breitbart reported. The committee will depose Wade on Tuesday in its probe to determine whether the case against former President Donald Trump is politically motivated.
Willis shared her instructions to Wade in a letter to Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) Monday. "I am concerned that your demand for Mr. Wade’s testimony would force him to improperly divulge confidential information that is protected by privileges," she wrote.
Backed by Willis' office, Wade will be "asserting all legal protections and privileges related to information that he possesses about ongoing criminal prosecutions." The House Judiciary GOP shared a copy of the letter to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, captioned, "What is she trying to hide?"
🚨 #BREAKING: FANI WILLIS demands NATHAN WADE not answer questions at his deposition tomorrow before the Judiciary Committee.
What is she trying to hide? pic.twitter.com/eouMF7iMCt
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) October 14, 2024
The letter outlined what would be off-limits when Wade appears for his deposition. "Questions about the substance of Mr. Wade’s work in the case would implicate information that is protected by the deliberative process privilege, attorney-client privilege, and work-product privilege, among others" should be prohibited, Wills' letter said.
"Asking witnesses to share legally protected, non-public information about pending prosecutions may cause them to violate their confidentiality obligations under professional ethics rules. In addition, the release of this legally protected information may also prejudice defendants, victims, or witnesses, or affect the overall integrity of proceedings," she added.
Willis later stated that Wade's silence is necessary to the case against former President Donald Trump, which she and Wade worked on together. "I will continue to do everything in my power to protect the integrity of this criminal investigation and all others in which my office leads," she wrote.
"My legal duty to protect the secrecy and integrity of all criminal investigations has been bestowed upon me by Federal, State and Local law," Willis added. This letter comes after the committee had difficulty serving Wade with a subpoena because Willis instructed him to evade them, the New York Post reported.
"The eleventh-hour intervention from District Attorney Willis does not excuse your failure to appear for your transcribed interview," Jordan wrote after finally serving Wade in September. Willis is trying to do all she can to stop this probe, perhaps with good reason.
Willis was ambitious in bringing her case against Trump and several others regarding alleged election interference. She may have undermined her work when she hired Wade on Nov. 1, 2021, to help with that effort.
The pair claimed they weren't together then and started their affair approximately in March 2022. However, the timing raised concerns about the nature of Wade's hiring, considering that he filed for divorce just one day after Willis hired him.
This became the central question in a hearing over whether Willis should be disqualified due to her relationship with Wade, whom she may have hired due to their relationship. As the Washington Post reported, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ultimately required Wade to leave the case over the "appearance of impropriety" after hearing Willis' testimony.
Now, Trump's case will remain unresolved until after the election. Even if Willis does succeed in prosecuting him, Trump's legal team has quite a bit of leverage to get the conviction tossed based on the undisclosed and possibly improper relationship between Willis and Wade.
People like Willis and Wade were doing all they could to get Trump behind bars. However, they couldn't help themselves to a little impropriety behind the scenes, which may cost them the case against him even if they can convict him.
