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Georgia DA Fani Willis accused of paying prosecutor in Trump case less than alleged squeeze Nathan Wade
By Social Links forMegan Palin
Published Jan. 15, 2024, 5:06 p.m. ET
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Court records show Wade billing the Fulton District Attorney’s office $250 per hour for his work prosecuting Donald Trump and 18 others on state racekteering charges over 2020 election interference in November and December 2021, despite having no experience in that area of law.
Meanwhile John Floyd — regarded the state’s foremost expert on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) cases — was only billing $150 an hour in those same months, according to a contract obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The revelation comes a day after Willis — accused last week of having a “clandestine” personal relationship with Wade in papers asking for them both to be dismissed from the case — said she treated all three special prosecutors she hired equally.
Speaking at a local church service Sunday, she said: “I appointed three special counsels, as is my right to do, paid them all the same hourly rate.”
The third special prosecutor, Anna Cross, was being paid $250 per hour in 2022, according to the Daily Caller, which also notes agreements made between Fulton County and Floyd after April 2022 may have been at a higher rate, but weren’t immediately available.
A representative for Floyd’s office declined to comment, but pointed out all three lawyers had joined the case at different times and brought different areas of expertise to the case.
Willis went on to accuse her detractors of racism, saying they had singled out Wade as the only the black prosecutor she hired.
Speaking at the Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta on Sunday, she said: “I hired one black man, another superstar, a great friend and a great lawyer … First thing they say: ‘oh, she’s gonna play the race card now.”
“But no God, isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one?”
Michael Roman, the defendant who first alleged Willis and Wade were in a relationship, was quick to fire back.
“The biggest difference between Ms. Cross, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Wade is that Ms. Willis is not in a relationship with Ms. Cross and Mr. Floyd,” he told the Atlanta Constitution-Journal Sunday.
Roman’s filing claimed Wade used money earned from working the case to take Willis on vacations in Napa Valley and the Caribbean.
“Willis and Wade were romantically involved prior to Willis awarding a contract for legal services with Wade,” the filing states, although it offered no evidence to prove it.
In that light, Wade’s past stance on conflicts of interest has raised some eyebrows.
He appeared to take a strong stance when asked at a candidate forum sponsored by the Cobb County NAACP as to when a judge should recuse themselves from a case.
“If there’s an appearance, just a mere appearance of impropriety, and there’s a request for recusal, just do it, because by not doing it, what you’re doing is hurting the county in the long run, you’re costing the taxpayers a lot of money,” Wade said in 2016, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.
Wade was referring to Cobb County Superior Court judge Reuben Green – who he has challenged for his position on multiple occasions – after he was accused of having conflicts of interest which drew ethics complaints.
