Aiexpress – Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis addressed the media at the Fulton County Government Center in Atlanta on Monday, August 14, 2023. She announced that Donald Trump and several of his allies have been indicted in Georgia for their involvement in attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has accused the estranged wife of one of her deputies, who she is alleged to have had an affair with, of interfering in the Georgia election interference case involving former President Donald Trump.
In court documents, Willis claimed that a subpoena, which she described as “defective,” was issued with clear coordination between the election interference case and Joycelyn Wade’s request to depose her in the divorce proceedings of Fulton County Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade. This all happened on the same day and within just a few hours.
“The court documents state that District Attorney Willis’ lawyer, Cinque Axam, argues that the subpoena seeking her deposition is an attempt to harass and tarnish her professional reputation. Additionally, Axam contends that the subpoena is being pursued in an unreasonable manner with the intention to annoy, embarrass, and oppress Willis as the deponent.”
According to the documents, defendant Joycelyn Wade has collaborated with other individuals involved in the criminal Election Interference Case to utilize the civil discovery process in order to harass, humiliate, and intimidate District Attorney Willis.
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Joycelyn Wade’s lawyer, Andrea Hastings, told the Associated Press that they want to help her “resolve her divorce fairly and privately” and that any response to Willis’ move will be filed with the court.
Joycelyn Wade issued a subpoena to Willis on the same day that Michael Roman, a defendant in the election interference case, submitted two court motions. One was to make the Wades’ divorce case public again, and the other was to remove Willis and Nathan Wade from the election interference case because they had a “conflict of interest.”
According to the New York Times, Roman’s lawyer said that Wade’s relationship with Willis is documented in sealed court papers in the ongoing divorce case.
Willis rejected the notice of deposition, claiming that it was “not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of relevant or admissible evidence.”
She also cited a Georgia ordinance that says, “‘Protective orders for certain high-ranking members of a governmental body or public or private entity, provides that ‘good cause for a protective order to prohibit the deposition of an officer may be shown by proof that such person is an officer and lacks unique personal knowledge of any matter that is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action.’”
“More importantly, District Attorney Willis ‘lacks unique personal knowledge of any matter that is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action’ and Defendant Joycelyn Wade has not alleged otherwise,” the motion reads. “Indeed, the deposition of District Attorney Fani T. Willis cannot provide unique personal knowledge of any matter that is relevant to Defendant Wade’s divorce; because on Information and belief, the Plaintiff filed for divorce on November 2, 2021, on the grounds the marriage was irretrievably broken, and on November 30, 2021, the Defendant answered and agreed the marriage was irretrievably broken.”
The subpoena for the deposition notice was served wrong, and Willis said it “fails to indicate topics, dates, or subjects which the deposition is to cover.” In addition, it doesn’t say how the statement will be preserved.
Willis said that the defendant didn’t ask her for any specific information, but she added, “If news reports are accurate, the defendant may want to know about any relationship with the plaintiff.” The couple agrees that the marriage is over and can’t be fixed. There is also no question of who is at fault, so District Attorney Willis can’t give any information that could help the judge decide whether to grant or reject the divorce. So, asking District Attorney Willis for information would have nothing to do with the divorce case that is still going on in this court.
The asked-for interview is “outside the scope” of the discovery process and the ongoing divorce case, she said.
“On information and belief, defendant is using discovery as a vehicle to harass non-party Deponent Willis,” court documents said. “The sought-after deposition of District Attorney Willis is not relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action and should not be permitted. Defendant Joyce Wade’s failure to identify a relevant purpose for the sought-after deposition suggests that it is intended to harass.”
Willis said that he and Joycelyn Wade agreed that their marriage was “irretrievably broken after the defendant Joycelyn Wade confessed to an adulterous relationship with the plaintiff’s longtime friend” as early as 2017, before Nathan J. Wade met Willis. “Defendant Joycelyn Wade’s affair made it impossible for them to get back together.”
