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Several legal analysts say that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could face perjury charges for her testimony about a relationship with a special prosecutor.
Willis testified under oath that she and Nathan Wade only started dating following Donald Trump’s indictment, a claim the former president’s attorneys claim they can refute with phone records. Newsweek requested comments on Tuesday via email from Willis’ office and Trump’s attorneys.
Along with eighteen co-defendants, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination is accused of plotting to reverse Joe Biden’s election victory in Georgia in 2020. Given that he is most likely the Republican nominee for president, Trump has consistently maintained that the case was politically motivated while pleading not guilty to all of the charges.
Several legal experts spoke to Newsweek and expressed concerns about Willis’ testimony.
Willis, a Democrat, may face charges of perjury from Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr, according to Eric Anderson, an attorney at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae in Los Angeles, California.
“Given the political climate, I would not be completely surprised if the attorney general, a Republican, acts. Attorney General Carr has shown a willingness to take on elected officials in criminal proceedings before,” Anderson said.
“When it comes to politics, anything is possible. Unless the alleged perjury is about a fact material to the matter at hand, perjury charges are not likely for a regular witness,” Anderson added.
Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, told Newsweek that Trump’s lawyers want “to shift the question before the court from disqualification to perjury.”
“The judge should focus on the real disqualification question here. Is there any basis to find that Willis chose to pursue the case to generate income for Wade, which he would then use to take her on luxury trips?” Gillers added.
“The answer is no. Willis started her investigation in February 2021 and did not hire Wade, who was not her first choice, until nine months later. She got an indictment and four guilty pleas,” Gillers said.
“Her successes so far rebut any suggestion that she brought or continued the case to generate fees for Wade. To the contrary, her successes so far tell us she did so because in fact it is a meritorious case,” Gillers added.
Under oath, Willis stated that she didn’t start dating Wade until she assigned him to the Trump case. But the former president has summoned Wade’s phone records and engaged a tech specialist to purportedly demonstrate that he spent time at Willis’ residence well in advance of the inauguration of the election fraud investigation.
The lawyers for Trump are also looking for more details regarding the opulent travels that Wade and Willis enjoyed together.
Whether Willis and Wade can continue working on the Trump election fraud case is now up for decision by the judge.
One law professor at Syracuse University in New York, Greg Germain, told Newsweek that there may be charges of perjury against the district attorney.
“Willis could certainly be charged with perjury if a prosecutor can prove that Willis knowingly lied under oath. The matter would have to be referred to a prosecutor, presumably from another DA office, or state or federal prosecutor, to bring the charges. It is not common for people to be charged with perjury for lying under oath about a personal relationship, but it certainly has happened in high-profile cases, like Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski. So yes, a perjury prosecution is possible,” Germain said.
To decide whether to disqualify Willis and her office from the Trump case, Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the case, held several hearings. Because of what they saw as a conflict of interest, Trump and a few of his co-defendants not only argued for the removal of Willis’ office but also for the case to be dropped altogether.
However, according to Willis and Wade, who have both stated that they have not profited monetarily from the relationship, it began in the spring of 2022 when Willis hired Wade.
Tuesday is the scheduled resumption of McAfee’s hearings to decide whether Willis should continue working on the case.
To demonstrate that prosecutor Nathan Wade was staying at Willis’ house long before she appointed him to head the election fraud case, Trump’s legal team employed a phone records analyst.
Trump’s legal team is attempting to establish that Willis hired Wade as a result of their romantic relationship and that the district attorney ought to recuse herself from the Trump case.
