Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee admonished Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for casting “racial aspersions” toward co-defendant Mike Roman during a January speech at Big Bethel AME Church.
Roman accused Willis of financially benefiting from her affair with fellow Trump prosecutor and ex-lover Nathan Wade. McAfee ruled Friday that Willis can stay on the case if Wade is fired.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Nathan Wade (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
In McAfee’s ruling, he took issue with race comments Willis made in January. While in church, Willis said she hired three prosecutors, one of whom is black, referencing Wade. She further stated that the accusations against her and Wade were leveled because political opponents were using the “race card.”
“First thing they say, ‘Oh, she can play the race card now.’ But no, God, isn’t it them?” Willis asked behind the church pulpit.
“Who’s playing the race card when they only question one [Wade]? Isn’t [it] them playing the race card?” she asked. “I’ve been doing almost 30 years [sic].”
McAfee said Willis’s comments “cast racial aspersions at an indicted Defendant’s decision to file this pretrial motion”:
More at issue, instead of attributing the criticism to a criminal accused’s general aversion to being convicted and facing a prison sentence, the District Attorney ascribed the effort as motivated by “playing the race card.” She went on to frequently refer to SADA Wade as the “black man” while her other unchallenged SADAs were labeled “one white woman” and “one white man.” The effect of this speech was to cast racial aspersions at an indicted Defendant’s decision to file this pretrial motion.
Willis’s comments came after a court filing by Roman, a political operative and co-defendant of Trump in the Georgia election case, who alleged four explosive facts about Willis’s conduct while prosecuting Trump:
- Nathan Wade, Willis’s lead prosecutor in the Trump case, had an “improper” relationship with Willis.
- Wade’s law firm used funds paid by the county to take Willis on luxury vacations by using potentially fraudulent payments.
- Wade was appointed without the required approval by authorities and had little to no prosecutorial experience.
- Wade met twice with President Joe Biden’s White House counsel before indicting Trump in August, calling into question if the White House coordinated prosecuting Biden’s 2024 political opponent.
The case is Georgia v. Trump, No. 23SC188947 in Superior Court in Fulton County, Georgia.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.