Apparently, the race card wasn’t working out for Fani Willis. Time for a different approach to silence her critics. How about blaming the soon-to-be ex-wife of Willis’s alleged boyfriend, Nathan Wade?

No, really. Fani Willis is claiming that Joycelyn Wade is trying to mess with her very important election interference RICO case by… *checks notes* serving her a subpoena to get her to testify in the Wade divorce case, on the same day that Michael Roman filed his motion. So, it’s a CONSPIRACY! Allllllllllrighty then!

A motion filed last week by a defense attorney in the election case alleges that Willis was involved in a romantic relationship with attorney Nathan Wade. A lawyer for Willis wrote in a filing Thursday that lawyers for Wade’s wife, Joycelyn Wade, served a subpoena to the district attorney last week.

The filing says that the subpoena is being sought “in an attempt to harass and damage” Willis’ professional reputation and accuses Joycelyn Wade of having “conspired with interested parties in the criminal Election Interference Case to use the civil discovery process to annoy, embarrass, and oppress” the district attorney.

The attempt to question Willis is “obstructing and interfering” with an ongoing criminal case, lawyer Cinque Axam wrote in the court filing Thursday seeking to quash the subpoena.

Andrea Hastings, a lawyer for Joycelyn Wade, said they want to help her “resolve her divorce fairly and privately” and that any response to Willis’ motion will come in a filing with the court.

Willis was served with the subpoena the same day that defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents former Trump campaign staffer and onetime White House aide Michael Roman, filed a motion alleging an inappropriate relationship between Willis and Nathan Wade. She asserted that their alleged actions created a conflict of interest and led to Willis profiting personally from the prosecution. The motion seeks to have the indictment thrown out and to have Willis and Wade removed from the case.

Willis’ office has said they will respond to Merchant’s motion in a court filing but have not provided a timeline for that. Her filing on Thursday in the divorce case does not address whether she and Wade have been romantically involved.

The district attorney’s lawyer wrote that Nathan and Joycelyn Wade have been separated for more than two years and are involved in “an uncontested no-fault divorce” and there is an “absence of any relevant basis” to question Willis.

Merchant has not provided any solid proof to support her allegations of an inappropriate relationship. She mentioned “sources close” to Willis and Wade without elaborating.

Merchant’s motion also mentions that filings in Wade’s pending divorce are sealed but that she has filed a motion to unseal them. A coalition of news organizations, including The Associated Press, filed a motion Tuesday to gain access to those filings.

“Ms. Willis alleges that her deposition is being sought in an attempt to harass and damage her professional reputation. Why would her truthful testimony risk damaging her reputation?” Merchant wrote in an email Thursday.

She accused Willis of trying “to create a conspiracy where none exists,” noting that she filed her motion on the deadline for pretrial motions in the election case.

Fani Willis is trying to claim that Joycelyn Wade and Michael Roman are conspiring against her. Well, let’s see. Roman is claiming that Fani Willis and Nathan Wade are having an affair, and that she is enjoying the financial benefits of the salary that SHE arranged to pay HIM as a highly inexperienced RICO prosecutor. And speaking of that salary, remember that Fani Willis claimed that her office was paying all of the attorneys that she hired equally? Uh-oh.

Court records show Wade billing the Fulton District Attorney’s office $250 per hour for his work prosecuting Donald Trump and 18 others on state racekteering charges over 2020 election interference in November and December 2021, despite having no experience in that area of law.

Meanwhile John Floyd — regarded the state’s foremost expert on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) cases — was only billing $150 an hour in those same months, according to a contract obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

The revelation comes a day after Willis — accused last week of having a “clandestine” personal relationship with Wade in papers asking for them both to be dismissed from the case — said she treated all three special prosecutors she hired equally.

Speaking at a local church service Sunday, she said: “I appointed three special counsels, as is my right to do, paid them all the same hourly rate.”

The third special prosecutor, Anna Cross, was being paid $250 per hour in 2022, according to the Daily Caller, which also notes agreements made between Fulton County and Floyd after April 2022 may have been at a higher rate, but weren’t immediately available. Calls to Willis’ office Monday said it was closed for the government holiday.

The bad optics aside (and they’re bad), let’s look at when Nathan Wade was billing those hours in the above story. Why, that would be November and December 2021. What did District Attorney Willis’s lawyer claim in their response to the court to Joycelyn Wade’s subpoena, again?

The district attorney’s lawyer wrote that Nathan and Joycelyn Wade have been separated for more than two years and are involved in “an uncontested no-fault divorce” and there is an “absence of any relevant basis” to question Willis.

Stop me if my math is wrong, but it looks like Nathan Wade was working for Fani Willis over two years ago. And we have Fani Willis’s lawyer saying that the Wades have been separated for at LEAST that period of time. Sounds to me like Joycelyn Wade and her lawyer would like to know EXACTLY when any alleged relationship between Fani Willis and Nathan Wade began. A quick online search of Georgia divorce law confirms that Georgia is a no-fault divorce state, BUT…

Fault, such as adultery, can be used as a factor in determining alimony. Other fault issues can also figure into custody determinations.

DING DING DING DING, GET YOUR POPCORN, EVERYONE. If the timeline of the separation leading into divorce corresponds with Nathan Wade working for Fani Willis in the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, and Joycelyn Wade can prove that her soon-to-be ex-husband was having an affair, then SHE could take a much bigger bite out of those very generous paychecks that Fani Willis is giving him.

And obviously, Michael Roman and every other defendant in the Trump RICO case has a vested interest in knowing if the district attorney is financially benefitting from prosecuting all of them, by hiring her alleged boyfriend, making sure he carried home a fat paycheck, and then vacationed on HIS dime. And maybe Willis and Wade weren’t nearly as circumspect and sneaky as they think. The judge in the case, Scott McAfee, has now scheduled a hearing date of February 15th regarding the allegations, and this could end up being very bad for Fani Willis.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee also wrote in his order that Willis must respond to the accusations in writing by Feb. 2. Willis has declined to directly address the explosive accusations that first came to light last week in a filing from one of Trump’s co-defendants, former campaign aide Mike Roman. The filing did not include evidence to substantiate the claims.

McAfee’s order, which was obtained and first reported by The Washington Post, could force Willis to address the allegations in televised court proceedings, a development that could at least be embarrassing for the district attorney and at worst for her derail the investigation completely. The district attorney separately signaled Thursday that she plans to fight the efforts to disqualify her from the case, filing a motion to block a subpoena that could force her to testify in the contentious divorce case of her lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade.

This case just keeps getting juicier and more attention-getting than the original charges against Donald Trump and all the co-defendants. Wouldn’t it be supremely ironic if Donald Trump ended up being a footnote in the legal case against him, because the main event ends up being Fani Willis and Nathan Wade? The Georgia case has always been one of the biggest dangers for Donald Trump, because even if he is re-elected, he can’t pardon himself from state convictions. This entire election interference RICO case could fall apart if Willis and Wade end up being disqualified and brought up on charges of their own.

I think Valentine’s Day might be not quite as fun as Fani Willis was hoping for, seeing as she might be on the stand herself the next day. Make sure you stock up on enough popcorn for February 15th.

Featured image: original Victory Girls art by Darleen Click