Atlanta prosecutor Nathan Wade was grilled on Capitol Hill for more than six hours Tuesday over his workplace romance with Fulton County DA Fani Willis that threatens to thwart a criminal case against former President Donald Trump.
Wade — who quit the case after his dalliances with Willis came to light — was subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee last month to appear for a transcribed interview.
A former special prosecutor who was billing a hefty $250 per hour to Willis’ office, Wade declined to answer reporters’ questions when entering and exiting the committee room — at one point even pausing to take a phone call while being peppered with inquiries.
In a surprising letter ahead of Wade’s appearance, Willis warned her ex against discussing privileged or confidential information that could interfere with the Georgia case. She sent a similar letter to committee staff.
Asked by The Post during a break whether Wade would take the Fifth Amendment, former Georgia Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, who is representing the prosecutor, responded incredulously: “What crime has been committed here?”
“We gave our testimony, cooperated and we’re through,” Barnes told reporters as he and Wade trotted to the elevators, with the embattled former special prosecutor flashing a smile before the doors shut.
Wade and his lawyers evaded the Republican-led panel’s subpoena for nearly six days before he contacted US Marshals and agreed to attend the closed-door interview, a source familiar with the matter told The Post.
Many federal, state and local officials tied to the Trump criminal indictments have agreed to testify voluntarily, making Wade’s evasion “extremely unusual,” according to Judiciary spokesman Russell Dye.
“The Judiciary Committee has served over 100 subpoenas this Congress. We have done so, for the most part, without controversy or the need to use the US Marshals,” Dye said last month.
Attorneys for one of the 14 Trump co-defendants in the case, Mike Roman, first disclosed Wade’s tryst with Willis in court filings this past January, leading to months of disclosures and later court hearings about the affair.
Willis hired Wade on Nov. 1, 2021, one day before he filed for divorce from his wife, and the special prosecutor went on to earn more than $700,000 for his legal efforts on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) case.
Both Willis and Wade denied any romantic involvement when the latter’s divorce proceedings began or that their relationship posed a conflict of interest.
The couple also spent thousands of dollars on lavish trips to the Caribbean and Central America in 2022 and 2023, though they claimed they split costs evenly.
Wade ultimately testified that he and Willis became involved “around March” 2022, after the Trump case started — and that their fling ended in June or July of 2023.
Witnesses contradicted testimony about the start of the romance as the case got bogged down in a series of hearings.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee eventually ruled that Willis could remain on the case as long as her ex-lover was removed.
Trump attorneys have appealed that decision to the Georgia Court of Appeals, delaying a trial date until at least next year.
The Peach State racketeering case was one of four criminal indictments launched in the year before Trump easily clinched the 2024 GOP nomination — all “politically motivated” prosecutions, according to Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan.
Jordan (R-Ohio) has pointed to at least two White House meetings that Wade took — one of which was with a member of the executive mansion’s counsel’s office — as evidence of the Biden administration’s meddling.
Wade declined to sit for a voluntary interview with the Judiciary panel — unlike Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who brought charges against Trump for allegedly fudging records of payments he made to his legal fixer to keep porn star Stormy Daniels quiet about a decade-old affair.
A Manhattan jury convicted the 45th president on 34 felony business fraud counts in May.
Special counsel Jack Smith filed two other federal indictments against Trump in Washington, DC, and South Florida over the former president’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election and alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office, respectively.
Questions of presidential immunity stalled the DC case until the Supreme Court ruled on the matter in July.
Smith has since introduced a superseding indictment to exclude charges for any official acts Trump took while in office, which are now considered totally immune from prosecution.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the Florida indictment after ruling that Smith’s special counsel appointment was unconstitutional because it bypassed congressional authorization.
