Fani Willis Campaigned in 2020 on Not Engaging in Sexual Misconduct

Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis campaigned in 2020 on not engaging in sexual misconduct, as her predecessor was accused of doing.

The irony of Willis’s campaign promise was evident after allegations of her own affair surfaced, along with financial implications.

When asked in 2020 about her qualifications to be elected Fulton County’s prosecutor, Willis said, “Because they deserve a DA that won’t have sex with his employees, because they deserve a DA that won’t put money in their own pocket when it should go to benefit children. Because we deserve better.”

Willis won in the general election on November 3, 2020, dislodging a longtime former county prosecutor accused of corruption. She assumed office on January 1, 2021. Her term will end on December 31, 2024.

In 2023, Trump and codefendant Mike Roman accused Willis of maintaining an improper romantic relationship with her top Trump case prosecutor, Nathan Wade.

Wade testified Thursday that his relationship with Willis began in 2022 after Willis opened the case against Trump in 2021. But former Fulton County District Attorney employee and Willis’s college friend, Robin Yeartie, said she was definitely in a relationship with Nathan Wade since 2019, contradicting Wade and Willis:

2020. Fani Willis is asked why the people of Fulton County should support her for District Attorney.

"Because they deserve a DA that won't have sex with his employees, because they deserve a DA that won't put money in their own pocket." pic.twitter.com/uo8wD1wnnR

— MAZE (@mazemoore) February 15, 2024

Breitbart News’s Joel Pollak further analyzed Thursday’s hearing:

But it was Willis who was in the spotlight — and she performed abominably, throwing a tantrum on the witness stand that led the judge to call a five minute recess to regain order. She corroborated Wade’s claim that she had reimbursed his expenses for her with cash — but could provide no receipts for cash withdrawals from her bank (nor did Wade provide receipts for cash deposits).

Her claim that she only developed a romantic relationship with Wade after he joined the Trump case seemed to hinge on the nebulous definition of what a romantic relationship is and whether it involved sexual intercourse. Former friend Robin Bryant-Yeartie testified that Willis and Wade had a relationship as early as 2019; both denied that — but then, of course, they would.

Willis also tried to claim that she did not need to declare on disclosure forms that she had received gifts — meals, or travel — in excess of a net of $100, in aggregate, over a calendar year because she had paid her own way and paid for some of his expenses. In one bizarre admission, she seemed to suggest she had taken cash from one of her campaigns for public office for personal use. And she struggled to reconcile her campaign promise not to have sex with subordinates with the fact that she had clearly done so with Wade; she tried arguing at first that he was an “agent” rather than an “employee,” though he remained in charge of his work.

If the presiding judge determines Willis engaged in an actual conflict of interest with her lover and fellow prosecutor, Willis would be removed from the case, handing former President Donald Trump a massive victory in the Georgia election interference case.  

RELATED — CNN’s Honig: Willis Should ‘Step Aside’; She’s Prejudiced Jury Pool, Dodged Key Questions on Conflict of Interest

Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.