Rico Suave

There’s been some requests for a thread about Fani Willis’s admission that she’s been having an affair with Nathan Wade, the man she hired to head the investigation that has led to the indictment of Donald Trump and a lot of other people for various acts of election fraud in the wake of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

My own view is that I don’t for a second buy Willis’s claim that the affair started after she hired Wade. I don’t primarily because the pre-existence of an affair provides a parsimonious explanation for why Willis made the otherwise inexplicable decision to choose Wade for this incredibly important appointment. Wade isn’t even a prosecutor, let alone someone with the requisite experience to handle a very complex and politically explosive RICO prosecution, and the appointment never made any sense on its face. There were literally thousands of Georgia lawyers better qualified for the job Willis’s handed Wade, for which he’s been paid $654K over the past two years.

Furthermore, Willis is a liar by omission, since she hid her relationship with Wade, including from Wade’s wife, who is now divorcing him. So I see no reason to give her any benefit of the doubt.

In any event, Willis and Wade have now completely wrecked any prospect that this prosecution will get anywhere close to trial prior to November’s election, since it’s likely to take months to sort this out. The defendants will of course appeal any judicial decision not to disqualify her, and if she is disqualified it will take a good long time for a new special prosecutor to be appointed and then get up to speed on the case.

So it’s a complete disaster, legally and politically. It’s also probably the end of Willis’s broader political and legal ambitions, which I suppose is a fitting punishment, although not one that will ameliorate any of the damage she and Wade have done to the cause of fighting fascism in America in 2024.