According to a bombshell report from the Daily Caller News Foundation, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is bringing RICO charges against Trump and more than a dozen members of his campaign and legal team, not only used her power to hire her lover to prosecute the case, but paid him a higher rate than she offered a RICO expert.
As background, the original allegations against DA Willis over hiring her lover, with whom she took numerous vacations after hiring him at a high salary to be the Special Prosecutor in the cases, came from Michael Roman. Roman served on the 2020 Trump Campaign as Director of Election Day Operations.
In the pleading submitted to the court by one of his lawyers, Roman’s legal team alleges that “the district attorney and the special prosecutor have violated laws regulating the use of public monies, suffer from irreparable conflicts of interest, and have violated their oaths of office under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct and should be disqualified from prosecuting this matter.”
In any case, the Daily Caller News Foundation based that report on contracts and court documents it obtained, in which the rates paid to both individuals for their roles in the Trump RICO case are revealed, giving lie to a claim made by Willis on Sunday, January 14th, when she claimed that she “paid them all the same hourly rate.”
According to the DCNF’s bombshell report, a contract that Fulton County DA Willis’ office entered into with John Floyd was for $150 an hour. Floyd, one of the three special prosecutors, is considered the leading RICO expert in Georgia and even wrote a book on state and federal RICO statutes.
By contrast, the special prosecutor Willis appointed for the case, Nathan Wade, was contracted for $250 an hour for his work on the case, the DCNF reports. However, DCNF-obtained court documents show that Anna Cross, the other special counsel, was also paid a $250 an hour rate, similarly to Wade. Further, the DCNF reports, “It’s possible Floyd was later paid at a higher rate, as the contract the DCNF obtained only extends through April 2022.”
But, when giving details on who was paid what, it appears that Wade, Willis’ lover, was paid more, though whether that was because he worked more hours or was paid more per hour is unclear. Reporting on that, the DCNF reported:
Fulton County paid Wade’s law firm $34,000 in March 2023, while it paid Floyd’s firm, Bondurant Mixson & Elmore, $30,200 in the same month, according to a monthly public expenditure report. Floyd’s firm is not listed on Fulton County’s February 2023 expenditure reports, which shows Wade’s firm receiving $68,500. Neither firm appears on January’s public expenditure report.
Wade made $36,000 in April 2023 and $35,000 in May 2023, according to expenditure reports.
Floyd’s firm was paid $3,000 in June 2023. Wade’s firm does not appear on the report. Reports from other months could not be publicly accessed.
But, though those details could mitigate Willis’ wrongdoing in hiring Wade at such a rate, his experience in RICO cases, or rather lack thereof, is still a critical issue for Willis. Before being hired by Willis to serve as special prosecutor, Wade had worked on contract disputes, family law, and as a municipal judge that dealt with issues like traffic tickets, the Washington Post reports. In fact, Roman’s attorney alleged that Wade has never prosecuted a RICO case or even a felony trial.
Speaking to the DCNF about Wade’s lack of relevant experience, an Atlanta-area criminal defense attorney and legal analyst named Philip Holloway said, “If the allegations about his lack of felony trial experience are true, $250 per hour is unreasonably high.” He continued, “It could be argued that any amount is too high to pay someone with no felony trial experience to come in as lead counsel in the biggest, most complex criminal case in the history of Georgia.”
Featured image credit: Fani Willis for DA Campaign Website
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