ATLANTA — Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor tapped to help lead Georgia's 2020 election case, wants a judge to block subpoenas for personal and business bank records ahead of a hearing on efforts to get Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis removed from the case.
Wade filed the motion Thursday, calling the subpoena part of a broader effort by Trump codefendant Mike Roman "to harass, bully, oppress, and intimidate" prosecutors to delay the criminal case against him. Roman, a Philadelphia GOP operative who worked as director of election day operations for Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, seeks the records in an effort to prove that Wade and Willis are engaged in an improper personal relationship that financially benefited the prosecutors.
Roman alleged last month that Wade used portions of the money he made from the election case to pay for him and Willis to travel to Napa Valley and the Caribbean. He is seeking Wade's personal bank records as well as financial documents from his law firm.
Wade and Willis have admitted they were engaged in a personal relationship, but they denied they misused taxpayer funds for their financial gain. The pair said they split travel expenses.
In his motion, Wade argues the records Roman requested should not be turned over because they do not relate to his criminal charges. Wade accused Roman of hiding a subpoena, alleging it was sent only to the banking firm Synovus. Wade's motion called it a "diabolical attempt to obtain" personal and business financial records without his knowledge.
"This Court's job is not to help Roman and his attorney sift through the ‘personal records of the prosecuting attorney in hopes of finding something they could spin into salaciousness for a tabloid," a portion of the motion reads. "In short, nothing would be— or could be —gained from allowing production of these records. This Court should end Roman's ploy to disrupt justice by quashing his subpoena for Wade's personal and law firm bank records."
Roman and seven other co-defendants seek to disqualify Willis over the alleged financial misconduct and other actions tied to the 2020 election case. Fulton County Superior Court Scott McAfee set a Feb. 15 hearing over the disqualification motions. Roman also wants the criminal charges dropped and Wade removed from the case.
Wade's request comes one day after Willis requested McAfee block subpoenas that would require her and members of her staff to testify at the hearing.
Willis called the subpoenas a form of "harassment" and "disruption."
"Each of these subpoenas appear transparently to be an attempt to conduct discovery in a (rather belated) effort to support reckless accusations made in prior court filings," the DA office said in its motion. "The subpoenas should be quashed."
The Fulton County District Attorney's Office seeks an August trial for Trump and the remaining 14 co-defendants. Four people who were previously part of the case took a plea deal from prosecutors.