Special prosecutor Nathan Wade resigned on Friday from his position in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump.
Wade’s resignation was accepted by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office after Judge Scott McAfee ruled just hours earlier that either Wade or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had to exit the 2020 Georgia election case against Trump for the prosecution to continue. Willis faced possible disqualification from her case against Trump over allegations that she had misused taxpayer dollars and showed favoritism to Wade.
In his ruling, the judge said Willis acted with a “tremendous lapse in judgment,” adding that he found an appearance of “impropriety,” but said the defendants had “failed to meet their burden” of proving a conflict of interest based on Willis and Wade’s relationship.
“Although the court found that ‘the defendants failed to meet their burden of proving that the District Attorney acquired an actual conflict of interest,’ I am offering my resignation in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public, and move this case forward as quickly as possible,” Wade wrote, according to WSB-TV.
Willis responded to Wade’s resignation with an acceptance letter, saying, “I will always remember — and will remind everyone — that you were brave enough to step forward and take on the investigation and prosecution of the allegations that the defendants in this case engages in a conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.”
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Willis was accused by co-defendant Mike Roman of being romantically involved with Wade at the time she hired him for the Trump case. A witness testified last month that the romantic relationship between Willis and Wade began before the case started, while Willis maintains that the relationship didn’t take place until later.
Testimony from a former employee in the DA’s office, who said Willis and Wade began their relationship in 2019, contradicted claims by both Willis and Wade that their personal relationship did not begin until 2022.
Judge McAfee’s verdict was criticized by George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley, who said, “It’s like finding two people in a bank vault and taking one off to jail.”
Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this article.