Trump prosecutor Fani Willis accuses defense of 'lies' about misconduct
By Andrew Goudsward
(Reuters) -Fani Willis, the prosecutor overseeing the election interference case against Donald Trump in Georgia, on Thursday pushed back on claims by the former U.S. president's lawyers that her romance with a colleague presented a financial conflict of interest.
Willis repeatedly accused a lawyer for Michael Roman, a Trump co-defendant who initially raised the allegations, of lying in her statements to the court by implying that Willis had lived with the colleague.
«You're confused.… You think I'm on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020,» the Fulton County district attorney told the lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant.
Willis described the assertion in court papers the two had lived together as «another one of your lies.»
The district attorney took the stand after fellow prosecutor and former romantic partner Nathan Wade in testimony denied allegations of financial impropriety. Lawyers for Willis' office initially opposed her testifying, but dropped their opposition when the prosecutor made a surprise entrance in the courtroom.
Trump and some of his co-defendants assert that Willis should be disqualified from the prosecution due to her relationship with Wade, who they say paid for trips the two took together while Wade was being paid by Willis' office.
The Georgia case is one of four criminal prosecutions that Trump is facing as he closes in on securing the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the November election. Trump himself was in New York on Thursday where a judge scheduled a trial on charges related to hush-money payments to a porn star to start on March 25.
Wade on Thursday denied accusations that Willis financially benefited from
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