Behind on this subject..but has Fani denied affair? Saw

[Laura PourMeADrink]

Where she accused ex-wife of interference ( probably trump inspired).

But not a denial. Is there one? From her or prosecutor she hired?

[EndlessWire]

1. I don't see why she should.

It's just Donald effing around trying to get out of his legal problems. He doesn't actually have defenses to anything he is indicted for, so all he has left is this.

Get him, Fani!

[Bev54]

2. She is not talking and good on her, she will speak through the courts on the subject

Firstly these accusations are highly suspect and she did speak in her request to quash the subpoena of her, saying she has nothing to add on their divorce. The ex screwed around on him, not the other way around and at the time they both agreed the marriage was over. I am happy she is saying nothing right now, will wait and see what this is all about but she is not going to give these sucker republicans the satisfaction.

[Kingofalldems]

3. Bad things about Democrats.

[Jarqui]

4. The lack of denial troubled me

I'm waiting for the facts and evidence.
Probably will have to wait until February court hearing if she doesn't recuse before.

What has come in so far could make it difficult for her to continue.

I will not pass judgement until we hear from Fani and get all the facts.

[kelly1mm]

5. I doubt she will be able to avoid recusal by February 1st at the rate this is unraveling. nt

[Jarqui]

13. I hope it doesn't come to that

I like Fani and I respect her.
She is been a good, capable DA from what I've seen.

Put yourself in her shoes: facing off against Trump is like confronting the Devil himself. He is one ruthless, racist, nasty MF who hates women having power over him.
She's endured all kinds of attacks in court, in the media, on the net, in the GA legislature and in Congress. She, her staff and the court have endured all kinds of death threats.
She didn't blink. She didn't waver.

If she met someone during this horrific fight of her career, who cared about her and propped her up when she inevitably would get knocked down or overwhelmed by the craziness, well good for him.
So we're supposed to be so judgemental to deny her that when the accused pays women $130,000 to have sex with him behind his wife's back?

When they can't win in the courts, they have to kill the messenger.

[kelly1mm]

15. She is a very smart and capable lawyer. She should have seen the ethical minefield she was

walking into and chosen not to start a relationship with one of her direct reports. This is a clear violation of my state's (not GA) judicial branch ethics rules and, at minimum gives the appearance of impropriety. Your position is the empathetic one. Ethics rules and courts are not traditionally known for empathy.

[Jarqui]

16. One of my best friends is a prosecutor

He said this is like what happens in offices. (paraphrased) "People get horny. I've seen it many times. It shouldn't affect the case."

She may well have to recuse. I understand that.

I've been in some tough situations against powerful or nasty people. Bad enough it was unsafe to stay at my home or I had to buy some guns and involve the police, etc. But I had a partner who had my back in every way. It made me much stronger, gave me something bigger than me to fight for and helped me in a big way to get through it.

I try to put myself in her shoes. She's in a situation a million times worse than I ever was. With no partner - no one to get her back emotionally and every other way? One could easily argue this insane situation pushed her into that guy's arms.

If you've ever been in a tough situation, it is not hard to have some empathy.
I too doubt courts will have much empathy but I would be there arguing that in this case, they should.

[kelly1mm]

18. I agree these things happen (frequently). What happens when it is (hopefully self) reported

is one of the two involved get moved so there is no longer a supervisor/supervised issue. One judge was in a relationship with his court reporter so she was assigned to another judge and was no longer his direct report. Later he was named administrative judge (they were married at this time) so she had to move to the scheduling office which is supervised by the elected clerk of court in my jurisdiction. It is taken seriously in my state.

[Jarqui]

26. Need more info from Fani ,,

Does someone have to recuse if they go out for drinks after work?
Or they have a one night stand they would prefer to keep quiet?
Maybe they became friends - do friends have to recuse? And later it became romantic (if it ever did)

I think most if not all jurisdictions take it seriously.

My friend mentioned it would have been bad if she was sleeping with the judge (obviously)

Right now, she is getting ripped to pieces on twitter and that will probably sustain until after the hearing in February.

[kelly1mm]

29. The Twitter blow up is (I assume) because of the interview in 2020 where she said she

would fire anyone in her office in a relationship with a supervised employee? And that she would never date anyone in her office to avoid sexual harassment lawsuits?

Yeah funny about that videotape .........

[Jarqui]

36. The statements are in multiple tweets

Any garbage that can be used to disparage her and then some

[kelly1mm]

38. well that goes with being on social media in 2024. By now one as smart as Ms Willis has

got to understand that the internet is forever ......

Using her own tweets against her is not what I would consider garbage. I do think it is meant to disparage her and then some but come on, it was her own tweets!

[Jarqui]

45. Her own tweet? That's fair but

For every one of those, there are a 1,000 that are ugly, awful and not fair.

[kelly1mm]

47. That for sure is true! But it is not a good look in hindsight to say there should be no romantic

relationships in the DA's office and that she would not do so on twitter and then ......... this.

[Jarqui]

50. indefensible in the court of public opinion (if true)

It looks bad but I like to get all the facts to be sure.

If there is substance to the speculation, she may try to recuse.
But the court hearing will probably have to take place, etc.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

22. Agree..people get horny. Working and living around each other.

But...*supposedly* affair took place before she hired him. Per credit card records his ex-wife brought to light and then boom he was hired. Would 100% like someone to explain this. However, 100% agree trump probably behind it some how some way. He's desperate and this is the supposed slam dunk.

[dpibel]

27. FWIW

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218609730

He was hired in 2021.

Receipts are for 2022 and 2023.

For those who want to be horrified by all this, that's no matter.

But it's still a fact that the receipts produced so far postdate the hire.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

39. Thanks. Stand corrected. Too bad media doesnt make that clearer. Nt

[Jarqui]

33. They apparently have been friends for some time

They did not know each other in 2017 when Wade and his wife determined irreconcilable differences.

He helped Willis as a judge (he had been a judge too). She served as a judge 2019-2020
He helped her transition team to the DA office in Jan 2021.
She began the Trump case Feb 10, 2021
He was involved with the Grand Jury for the Trump case that began in Jan 2022. I'm not sure how much he was involved before that.

These bank statements are in 2022-2023 - AFTER he was leading the Grand Jury looking into Trump et al
Sept 2022

Link to tweet

Oct 2022

Link to tweet

/photo/4
April 2023

Link to tweet

so those do not jive with

"But...*supposedly* affair took place before she hired him. Per credit card records his ex-wife brought to light and then boom he was hired. "

But maybe I haven't seen all the 'incriminating' statements

[Laura PourMeADrink]

37. Thanks for digging that all up J ! Part of this is

An ex-wife's anger that she supposedly didn't know he'd be rich enough to afford such trips.

[brush]

6. It's not difficult to continue. FYI: Wade's mother traveled with them on the trip so she apparently...

approves of the relationship between her son who has been SEPARATED from his wife for TWO years, and Ms Willis.

Mr. Wade has moved on but apparently his soon-to-be ex is jealous of the high-profile and famous, new woman in his life and is trying to cause mischief. It won't work or affect the case.

[kelly1mm]

9. What about the ethics of having a relationship with an employee (or contractor) you supervise? This is

a clear violation of the ethics rules in my state judiciary (not GA) and in a major financial tech firm I worked for. I thought one of the main takeaways of the Me Too movement was that relationships between supervisors and supervised was inherently coercive?

[brush]

10. Work relationships happen. They're consesual adults. See post 38.

[kelly1mm]

11. Post 38? Do you think supervisors should date their direct reports? Do you think the power dynamics

of an employer/employee relationship make dating direct reports inherently coercive? Do you think policies in mid to large size organizations that prohibit such relationships are wrong. Wasn't one of the main takeaways from the Me Too movement that relationships between supervisors and direct reports were, at best, highly problematic?

I really don't think these concepts disputed, at least among the left at least .....

[brush]

12. I don't think we should just succumb to the obvious trump team rat-fucking.

And it's different than the majority of the me_too cases.

[ripcord]

14. For some reason many here will scream when it happens in the business world

But when it happens in public service they think it is no big deal.

[Happy Hoosier]

20. In general, no... but...

It has FA to do with the case.

[kelly1mm]

21. I agree that the case against President Trump and his associates will (and should) go on. The

ethics issues (basically HR) here may lead to the DA/SP having to recuse themselves from the case or, if they refuse, having the Court, assuming it finds an appearance or impropriety, change venue to effectively strip the DA/SP of jurisdiction.

In many jurisdictions, including mine for sure (not GA). judicial ethics rules preclude romantic relationships between supervisor and supervised That is the main problem here. The motion to dismiss makes some rather wild claims that the DA is choosing to press more cases so as to keep paying the SP that she is/was in a relationship with and, by extension, she is getting a benefit of alleged lavish vacations with him paid for (indirectly) with DA funds. That is the 'basis' of the motion to dismiss, which I think is going nowhere. The ethics issues are much more problematic.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

24. You missed that hiring after affair? If true

[kelly1mm]

30. The affair of the SP's soon to be ex-wife? Immaterial to the (probable) ethics

violation of having a relationship with one of your direct reports. He could have been a life long bachelor, it does not matter that he is technically married. it is that she supervises him.

I don't understand why after the me too movement so many here on the left seem to have an issue with the simple concept of 'don't get in a relationship with those you supervise'!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

32. I agree. Just trying to understand all the pieces of this.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

25. Yikes B. Are you in GA? Inside info :)

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. Hmmmm. Seems like a natural impulse to deny. But

Surely surely she knows that. Hmmmm. What's at stake is Democracy as we know it. Thought GA case was the most cut and dried among them all.

[Kingofalldems]

8. Hmmmmmm.

[LeftRightLeft]

17. Is there a crime involved here?

If so, what is it?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

19. Youve got to be kidding!

[LeftRightLeft]

28. Well.....

What's the crime?

[SYFROYH]

31. The crime is tenuous

but starts off that she hired her lover and he kicked back the funding in the form of vacations together

[kelly1mm]

35. Thats the theoretical and I think far fetched basis for a crime. The real issue here is the ethics

violation of being in a relationship with one of your direct reports. That is specifically barred by my state's (not GA) judicial branch ethics rules. Thus the appearance of impropriety may lead to a recusal by the DA/SP and if they refuse, possible change of venue to another GA county.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

40. Exactly. Not sure anyone ever mentioned the crime word.

[SYFROYH]

44. Like I said, it's tenuous and I agree the COI in the realtionship AND

receiving gifts could be easier to prove.

[dpibel]

42. So spending money you've earned

is now "kicked back the funding"?

Also, there's no evidence I know of that they were lovers before he was hired (assuming, arguendo, that the allegations of a romantic relationship are true).

[SYFROYH]

43. Spending money on the government supervisor who gave you the money as a part of a work assignment could be.

Could be.

I work for the State of Georgia who hires people and I would never accept a significant gift from the people I hire (outside of the office white elephant gift exchange).

[kelly1mm]

49. Becoming lovers after he was hired would also be an ethics violation in my state, which is not GA so I am not positive

that it would be there but likely. It is simply that you cannot be in a relationship with someone you supervise.

This is not that hard of a concept, especially post me too movement.

I am astonished that this seems to be a foreign concept here in allegedly left leaning DU. It is like me too never happened .....

[LeftRightLeft]

53. The "Me Too" movement has basically disentegrated as far as I can tell.

Due to more than a little bit of sham accusations.

It had so much potential.

[MichMan]

23. Mr Wade is certainly dedicated to the case

Even working around the clock when necessary. Don't often see that these days

[Laura PourMeADrink]

34. Good to know because he's being accused of not being qualified

[Silent Type]

48. Ouch! Those 24-hour days stick out. He might have worked that to meet deadlines, but

at least make it look plausible on billing statements for the trial of the century.

[dpibel]

51. You believe he is overbilling, eh?

Cutely done!

[FBaggins]

55. That is the fear, yes

Last weekend she claimed (to God oddly enough) that she hired three special prosecutors and paid them all the same.

But it appears that his hourly compensation is almost double the other two and they’ve billed a little over 1/10th as much as he has.

It does raise questions.

[Think. Again.]

41. His mom went with them...

...is there any reason people are assumimg they're lovers and not just long-time family friends or have some other connection?

[FBaggins]

54. She was on the first flight with them

Reportedly - she flew back (or to another destination) two days later while they went on a cruise together.

So, yes… it looks like more than a long time family friend.

[Silent Type]

46. Case of century, and we get this AVOIDABLE distraction.

[Ms. Toad]

52. No reason to. This is (at worst) an ethics issue.

It should have zero impact on the case against Trump.

If he's the best, then she should hire him.

If she hired him for reasons other than quality - how on earth does that prejudice Trump?

Personally, I think this is a motion the judge should dismiss on briefs alone. No reason to hold a hearing, since the claims are so far removed from any potential prejudice to Trump that it is silly to pander to Trump's muck stirring.

(And I've been mostly on the end of explaning why the court really is obligated to take most of what Trump files seriously.)

[Laura PourMeADrink]

56. Wow. Top Fani ally says Prosecutor shouid drop out

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/top-fani-willis-ally-calls-for-lead-prosecutor-nathan-wade-to-step-aside/ar-BB1h05dU