Fani T. Willis, the district attorney prosecuting the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump, acknowledged on Friday a “personal relationship” with a prosecutor she hired to manage the prosecution but argued that it was not a reason to disqualify her or her office from the case.
The admission came almost a month after allegations of an “improper, clandestine personal relationship” between the two surfaced in a motion from one of Mr. Trump’s co-defendants. The motion seeks to disqualify both prosecutors and Ms. Willis’s entire office from handling the case — an effort that, if successful, would likely sow chaos for an unprecedented state criminal prosecution of a former president.
“While the allegations raised in the various motions are salacious and garnered the media attention they were designed to obtain, none provide this Court with any basis upon which to order the relief they seek,” Ms. Willis’s filing said, adding that “the personal relationship between” Ms. Willis and the prosecutor, Nathan J. Wade, “has never involved direct or indirect financial benefit” to Ms. Willis.
Ms. Willis’s filing includes an affidavit from Mr. Wade that asserts that the personal relationship started only after Mr. Wade had been hired.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.