Top Fulton County Prosecutor’s Sealed Divorce Filings Sought by Media Outlets

Multiple news outlets this week have filed court papers seeking the release of a Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutor’s divorce court papers amid allegations that the county district attorney engaged in an improper relationship with that prosecutor.

Fifteen news outlets, including local newspaper the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, asked a judge in Cobb County, Georgia, to unseal Fulton Count special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s divorce case. Those outlets said that the court papers involving Mr. Wade and his wife are of significant public interest because of his role as a top prosecutor involved in the case against former President Donald Trump, Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, and many more.

Last week, a defendant in that case, Michael Roman, filed a potential bombshell court motion that accused Mr. Wade and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought the charges against President Trump and the others, of engaging in an “improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency” of the case. The court filing offered few details and little evidence to back up the allegations.

They added that the Georgia Supreme Court recognizes a “sweeping presumption of access” regarding court records, even including matters involving family issues and divorce proceedings. “The Court has reiterated time and again that open judicial records and proceedings are an integral part of our democratic form of government,” their attorneys argued.

The Cobb Superior Court judge overseeing the divorce case scheduled a hearing for Jan. 31 to determine whether those court materials should be unsealed. It was also reported that Ms. Willis was subpoenaed for a deposition with Mr. Wade’s wife’s attorneys on Jan. 23, while her office was told to hand over materials in the divorce proceedings.

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Other media outlets seeking details about the divorce case include The Associated Press, CNN, CBS News, ABC, Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal, Court TV, the New York Times, The Guardian, the Washington Post, WSB-TV, Scripps News, and WXIA-TV, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“The allegation that records in this action reveal a legally improper relationship between Special Prosecutor Wade and D.A. Willis must be answered in a transparent manner to preserve public confidence in our judicial system,” attorneys for the outlets said in a court filing.

Neither Mr. Wade nor Ms. Willis have publicly denied the claims, while the Fulton County District Attorney’s office told media outlets that it will respond in court filings. The Epoch Times contacted the Fulton County DA’s office and Mr. Wade’s private law firm for comment last week.

In a lengthy speech over the past weekend at an Atlanta church, Ms. Willis suggested that racial animus against her was the reason for the accusations that she engaged in the relationship. However, she provided no evidence to back up her assertion.

“First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now,’” Ms. Willis, a Democrat, said at the event, adding: “Isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one? Isn’t it them playing the race card when they constantly think I need someone from some other jurisdiction in some other state to tell me how to do a job I’ve been doing almost 30 years?”

“You did not tell me as a woman of color, it would not matter what I did. My motive, my talent, my ability and my character would be constantly attacked,” she further stated.

Allegations

In seeking to have Ms. Willis dismissed from the case, Mr. Roman’s lawyer accused the district attorney of allegedly committing “an act to defraud the public of honest services” due to the “intentional failure” to disclose the alleged relationship with Mr. Wade. What’s more, she “personally benefitted” from the relationship, it said.

“Accordingly, the district attorney and the special prosecutor have violated laws regulating the use of public monies, suffer from irreparable conflicts of interest, and have violated their oaths of office under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct and should be disqualified from prosecuting this matter,” the motion stated.

“I would never have filed something like this if I didn’t have multiple sources to corroborate,” Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney, told the channel. She has documentary evidence and witnesses to back up the claims in the filing, she said.

The attorney added that she spoke with a former Fulton County District Attorney’s office employee who claimed they believed it was common knowledge that the two were engaged in a romantic relationship.

But a spokesman for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, Jeff DiSantis, told local media that he has never heard of any alleged relationship between the two, and there was no common knowledge about the matter.

The DA’s office will respond to Ms. Merchant’s allegations in filings and in court, he said.