Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump on Thursday joined an effort to disqualify Fani T. Willis from leading the election interference case against Mr. Trump in Georgia, on the grounds that she created a conflict of interest by hiring her romantic partner to help prosecute the case.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers also raised a new argument for ousting Ms. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney: that she violated state bar rules when she claimed in a recent speech that racism was behind the effort to remove her.
The relationship claim surfaced on Jan. 8 in a filing from Michael Roman, one of Mr. Trump’s co-defendants in the Georgia case.
Six days later, Ms. Willis, who is Black, gave a speech at a church in Atlanta in which she suggested that her critics were “playing the race card” by criticizing her hiring of the special prosecutor, Nathan J.
Ms. Willis has neither confirmed nor denied a relationship with Mr. Wade, though she has been ordered to provide a written response to Mr. Roman’s motion by next week.
Persons:
Donald J, Trump, Fani, Willis, Ms, Michael Roman, Trump’s, Nathan J, Wade
Locations:
Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta