Fani Willis bankrolls private attorney for Trump prosecution: 'Certainly unorthodox'

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has paid massive sums to private sector attorneys for their services, and a portion of those relate to investigating and prosecuting former President Donald Trump, according to county records.

Nathan Wade, Willis’s lead prosecutor in the case, has raked in more than half a million dollars from the Fulton County District Attorney's Office from January 2022 to August 2023, according to a payment history.

Christopher Campbell, Wade's colleague at Wade & Campbell Firm, has been paid $116,670 from April 2021 to August 2023, the same records show.

Terrence Bradley, a former colleague of Wade's, was paid $74,480 from May 2021 to June 2022, according to the records.

Wade, a defense attorney who can bill by the hour, was hand-picked by Willis roughly two years ago to serve as special prosecutor in the Trump case. Wade is a former Cobb County fill-in municipal court judge who ran for Cobb County Superior Court and was defeated in 2012, 2014, and 2016. Willis chose Wade over career prosecutors who work on salaries, and while the legalities of that have not been questioned at this stage, some, like Phil Holloway, an Atlanta-based attorney for more than two decades, have found the use of Wade to be "unorthodox."

"It’s certainly unorthodox and appears to be a cash cow for any lawyer paid by the hour," Holloway said. "I’ve been practicing criminal law in Georgia for 24 years, and I’ve never seen such an arrangement."

Willis, who began investigating Trump in February 2021, indicted the former president and 18 co-defendants last month on racketeering charges, alleging they had conspired to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

One of the co-defendants, former Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer, highlighted in a court filing on Thursday the hefty payments to private prosecutors, asking for Judge Scott McAfee to schedule a hearing "regarding improper contact by special prosecutor's law firm."

Shafer included in the filing an advertisement he had received from Wade's firm soliciting clients who needed help with criminal defense needs, including "impersonating a public officer," a charge leveled against Shafer.

The advertisement, while sent in the form of a standard mailer, presented an awkward scenario where a private attorney was offering defense services to a person he was prosecuting.

Shafer's attorney in the court filing said it also violated an "anti-contact" rule, noting that "the harassing, or mocking and intimidating nature of the firm’s communication with Mr. Shafer causes grave injury to the appearance of fairness and propriety of this proceeding."

Aside from the advertisement, Holloway observed that Wade could skirt the typical obligations of public servants while working as outsourced counsel.

"For starters, it avoids the statutory requirements for the appointment of assistant district attorneys, who are paid a fixed salary, and also avoids the administration of an oath of office," Holloway said. "The oath of office is intended to protect the public from malfeasance by public officials and carries a criminal penalty if violated."

The use of Wade could also affect morale in Willis's office because in-house staff could feel that Willis finds them "incapable," Holloway warned.

Willis’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.

Georgia-based defense attorney Andrew Fleischman has also brought attention to the cost of Wade and his firm, writing on social media about how the exorbitant payments have been made "to a dude who has never tried a RICO case."

Fleischman indicated in another social media statement that he found the payments to Wade "troubling," particularly in light of what he described as the "massive backlog of cases" at the district attorney's office.

A person familiar with the Fulton County District Attorney's Office told the Washington Examiner he believed the payments to Wade and the others were not "getting the play that it should" in the media.

"Why is someone who is already on the government payroll not handling this?" he asked of the Trump case.

The person, who otherwise spoke highly of Willis and called her "smart as hell," said the use of Wade "doesn't feel right" and that "these are the taxpayers footing this. It's very strange."

Willis brought Wade on only “after several candidates turned her down,” according to the New York Times. The outlet did not specify which candidates Willis had attempted to bring on, noting that Wade was an "old friend" of Willis's.

Wade also "mentored [Willis] when she briefly served as chief magistrate judge in South Fulton," according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has paid massive sums to private sector attorneys for their services

Years ago, any employment related suits brought against the City of Atlanta were handled by King and Spaulding even though the city had it’s own legal department.

One could ask why would they need the private sector if they already had attorney’s on the payroll? Well, that’s because the city’s attorney’s weren’t all that good. One would could also ask, since the city was sued so often, by employees and citizens, why the city attorney’s didn’t learn how to do their jobs? Well, if one had a job as a city attorney, one was getting paid for doing nothing, knowing that they city was going to hire outside counsel for everything anyway, why bother paying attention to some of the things that transpired in a courtroom or during a deposition?

Willis won her election because, at the time, she was seen as less corrupt as the guy she was replacing. She’s turned out to be a complete disaster. The white liberals and black Democrats in the county should be proud of the train wreck they voted into office.

thefederalistpapers.com

Fulton County DA Fani Willis Accused of Burying
Evidence That Could Derail Trump RICO Case

By Randy DeSoto, The Western Journal
Published September 14, 2023 at 3:15pm

Sidney Powell’s defense attorney in the Fulton County, Georgia, RICO case regarding an alleged effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state accused county prosecutors Thursday of withholding exculpatory evidence in violation of the law

Brian Rafferty, Powell’s defense attorney, accused Fulton County prosecutors of keeping exculpatory evidence from him in violation of the law. “They have a due process obligation to turn over to me favorable information,” Rafferty said, citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1963 ruling in Brady v. Maryland.

The issue centers on whether Powell broke the law by breaching voting machines used in Coffee County, Georgia, as she and her team sought evidence the machines had been manipulated during the 2020 election, according to CNN.

Rafferty argued in court that Powell had been invited by Coffee County officials to examine the machines. “The most important thing that I’ve found, your honor, is a report by CNN, which I’ve been able to confirm, that there is a letter, a letter of invitation from Coffee County on Jan. 1 of 2021 that was sent,” he said. “And it was sent not to Ms. Powell, it was sent to another lawyer, inviting folks to come down to Coffee County and do whatever it is that they do,” Rafferty said.

CNN reported that he was referring to “text messages CNN previously made public, indicating that a former Coffee County elections official wrote an invitation to lawyers for Trump and a group accused of working at Powell’s direction.” That report was published Aug. 15.

“One of the messages, according to CNN’s report, interpreted the invitation as local authorities granting access in writing to Coffee County’s elections systems, at the time that lawyers for Trump were trying to unearth evidence of widespread fraud, which they didn’t find,” CNN said.

Rafferty said despite his repeated requests by email and letter, “I heard squat from the state,” referring to Fulton County prosecutors. “They sit here and say, your honor, that they are open and they are going to turn stuff over. I have been as clear as day about specifically what I’m entitled to under the Constitution, due process, Brady v. Maryland,” he said.

“That is exculpatory information that establishes that Ms. Powell should not be in this case. They have it, your honor. I have a reason to believe they have it, and they don’t even respond.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee also made a key ruling in the case severing Powell’s and pro-Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro’s cases from those of former President Donald Trump and the 16 other defendants, CNN reported.

Following the hearing, ABC News editorial producer John Santucci contended that it was not a good day for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. “Fani Willis wasn’t there, but you got to imagine … she’s throwing things against the wall based on this hearing,” Santucci said.

“A great win for Donald Trump and others that did not want to be part of this speedy trial case,” he said. Willis had sought an October trial date for all 19 defendants, which McAfee denied. Santucci explained that Fulton County prosecutors will have a trial this fall for Powell and Chesebro and then have to do a repeat performance in the spring, which will allow Trump and the other defendants to be better prepared. The first two defendants’ trial is set to begin Oct. 23, The Associated Press reported.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal

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