The former prosecutor who was caught in a scandalous affair with Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis made several damaging admissions to Congress about her efforts to take down Donald Trump.
In recorded testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, Nathan Wade said that Willis planned to investigate Trump before she took office on January 1, 2021.
The transcript of Wade's testimony was released Monday by House Judiciary chairman Jim Jordan (R-Oh.).
House Republicans were initially unable to find Wade when they subpoenaed him to testify. The witness gave a confusing explanation for his absence, saying he turned his phone off while he recovered from a sprained ankle.
Wade acknowledged two meetings with White House staff in 2022 that he recorded in his invoices, including with White House lawyers. However, Wade avoiding giving details about those meetings.
Wade's confession appears to back up Donald Trump's claim that the White House coordinated with state and federal Democratic prosecutors to derail his presidential campaign with "lawfare."
Sometime after the 2020 presidential election, but before taking office, Willis called for a "search committee" to find a special prosecutor who would lead a Trump investigation, Wade told Congress. The special committee formed on January 1, 2021.
That would place Willis' plans to pursue Trump before the January 6th, 2021, Capitol riot that Democrats have widely cited to lambast Trump as a "threat to democracy."
Wade told Congress that he served on the search committee, and reluctantly accepted the special prosecutor role after Willis struggled to fill it.
“And was there outreach to you to be part of the search committee prior to January 1, 2021?” investigators asked.
“Absolutely,” he replied, adding he was contacted "sometime after the election, but prior to her taking office.”
Willis brought charges against Trump and 18 allies last year for "overturning" the 2020 election in Georgia. The case brought her notoriety, but that soon gave way to public disgrace and humiliation when her affair with Wade was exposed.
The paramours defended their affair at a dramatic public hearing, where they denied Willis had profited off of hiring her lover for the high-profile case.
Wade came onto the case with little experience, telling Congress that he needed "RICO school" to learn about racketeering law.
In March, the judge allowed Willis to remain on the case if Wade stepped aside. The trial has been delayed by Trump's continued appeals of the disqualification ruling.
