Fani Willis appears to have fibbed in church when contesting preferential treatment of her alleged lover

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has begun to reap the whirlwind over a number of improprieties she is alleged to have committed in recent months and years. Willis went to church Sunday, but rather than confess to sin, she stressed her virtue in a dramatized back-and-forth with God.

The trouble about Willis' testimonial before God is that it does not appear to have been entirely honest.

During her remarks at Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta Sunday, Willis claimed that she paid all three special counsels on the Trump election interference case in Georgia at the same rate. Documents reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation appear to indicate otherwise.

What's the background?

A motion to disqualify Willis and her appointee, Trump prosecutor Nathan Wade, was filed on behalf of Michael Roman, a co-defendant in the Trump case, on Jan. 8. The motion accused Willis of being embroiled in "an improper, clandestine personal relationship" with Wade, a married attorney she later hired without the approval of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

Wade — whose apparent lack of relevant experience and past failures to become a Cobb County Superior Court judge evidently did not deter Willis from appointing him — filed for divorce the day after starting his contract as a prosecutor on the Georgia case, which has since reportedly earned him nearly $700,000.

The motion further claims that Wade, whose payments Willis authorizes, paid for his lover's luxurious international and domestic vacations, possibly running afoul of the federal racketeering statute.

The author of the motion, Roman's defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, recently indicated she has "multiple sources to corroborate" the claims, specifically those concerning Willis' affair with Wade.

Extra to the affair, the motion highlighted how Willis and Wade met with elements of the Biden White House and Jan. 6 committee while building their case against former President Donald Trump — suggestive of possible politically motivated coordination between the Fulton County District Attorney's Office and top Democrats seeking to incarcerate their leading rival.

The judge overseeing Trump's election interference case in Georgia indicated there could be a hearing in February to examine the allegations brought against Willis, reported Just the News.

Tall tales and victimhood

Following days of silence concerning the motion to disqualify and the damning allegations therein, Willis took the podium Sunday at a church in Atlanta and issued a 35-minute screed. Blaze News previously reported that she ultimately cast herself as the victim of racial animus and denounced her critics as "race card"-playing bigots.

Willis did not explicitly deny the allegations recently leveled against her. Instead, the Democrat defended against alternate accusations she appears to have fabricated from whole cloth.

"I'm a little confused. I appointed three special counselors. It's my right to do. Paid them all the same hourly rate. They only attacked one," said Willis. "I hired one white woman, a good personal friend and a great lawyer; a superstar, I tell you. I hired one white man — brilliant — my friend and a great lawyer. And I hired one Black man, another superstar, a great friend and a great lawyer."

Merchant said of Willis' speech, "Nothing she said today changes any of the important arguments raised in our motion and does not change the unfortunate facts surrounding her appointment of Wade," reported the New York Times.

After all, the key contention in the motion to disqualify was not that Wade was paid more or less than his peers, but that he allegedly bedded his would-be boss, then, once under her employ, used taxpayer funds to take her on extravagant vacations. Nevertheless, Willis' rebuke to the phantasmal accusation exposed her to additional scrutiny — granted she did ostensibly pay Wade more than one of the other special counsels.

The lover's premium

The Daily Caller obtained the professional services agreements between Willis' office and two of her special counsels: Wade, previously a middling associate municipal court judge in Marietta, and John Floyd, one of Georgia's top experts on federal and state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statutes.

Floyd entered into a contract with Willis' office on March 10, 2021, at an hourly rate of $150 per hour.

Wade entered into a contract with Willis' office in Nov. 1, 2021, at an hourly rate of $250 per hour.

This additional $100 per hour would likely go a long way on the Norweigan and Royal Carribean cruise lines, in New York City, Napa Valley, Florida, and other destinations Wade is alleged to have taken his supposed lover.

The third special counsel, Anna Cross, who entered into a contract with Fulton County at an hourly rate of $250 on July 15, 2022, ultimately ended up making as much as Wade per hour.

The one exception nevertheless casts doubt on Willis' claim in church that she "paid them all the same hourly rate.

Keith Adams, an Atlanta defense attorney who recently represented rapper Jeffery Lamar Williams in the RICO case brought against him, told the Caller, "Obviously the appropriate fee paid to special counsel would depend on the subject matter, the level of complexity, the level of expertise required, the level of experience of the attorney, and to some extent, the funds available to pay said attorney."

"It may be that the special counsel is being paid from a completely separate budget that is not subject to the same budgetary limitations and is left to the discretion of the district attorney," said Adams.

Legal analyst Philip Holloway wasn't buying it, stressing the arrangement between Wade and the Fulton County District Attorney's Office "is unheard of in Georgia" and that there was "no basis for comparison."

"Court-appointed criminal defense lawyers around here typically make less than $100 per hour on felony cases," said Holloway. "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."

The Caller indicated neither Willis' office nor Wade responded to requests for comment.

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