Nathan Wade, a former special prosecutor for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis , is set to appear for a deposition before Congress next week.
The closed-door interview is scheduled for Tuesday morning with the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, according to a subpoena copy reviewed by the Washington Examiner. The deposition is part of the committee's yearlong investigation into Willis's prosecution of former President Donald Trump .
The subpoena was the second one issued to Wade by the committee in the last few weeks. Wade appeared to avoid service of the first one for several days, refusing to accept it from the committee electronically and prompting Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) to take the unusual step of using the U.S. Marshals Service to reach Wade.
Wade, a Georgia-based attorney, did not acknowledge the first subpoena until the morning of the scheduled deposition in Washington, leading the committee to document that he was a no-show for it, according to two Republican lawyers familiar with the matter.
Wade received the second subpoena and plans to appear next week for the deposition with his lawyer Andrew Evans, Evans confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
Evans noted that they plan to "fully cooperate" with the committee, but he also said he was not sure what ground the lawmakers would cover that has not already been thoroughly examined by several lawyers during Trump's pretrial proceedings in Georgia this year when Trump and his co-defendants uncovered an undisclosed romantic relationship between Wade and Willis and moved to have the case tossed out.
Wade resigned as a result of the debacle but has continued to face scrutiny from Trump allies for Wade's romantic involvement with Willis while he was leading the Trump case.
Evans pointed out that the deposition has a "narrowly defined" scope that he aims to adhere to and that Wade has confidentiality obligations regarding Trump's prosecution, which remains open.
The committee, according to letters Jordan wrote to Wade, plans to inquire about Willis's use of federal funds and any correspondence Wade has had with the Biden administration or the now-disbanded Jan. 6 Committee.
Jordan observed in his letters to Wade how the Georgia lawyer made nearly $700,000 billing Fulton County for his services while he was romantically involved with Willis for at least part of the time he worked for her. Jordan noted that some of Fulton County's funding comes from federal grants, which his committee has jurisdiction over.
“District Attorney Willis reportedly compensated you and financed her politically motivated prosecution using a mixture of taxpayer funds, possibly including part of the $14.6 million in federal grant funds that her office received from the Department of Justice between 2020 and 2023,” Jordan wrote.
Willis has argued that she gained nothing financially from her relationship with Wade and that she split costs with Wade when they spent time together.
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“Any examination of the records of our grant programs will find that they are highly effective and conducted in cooperation with the Department of Justice and in compliance with all Department of Justice requirements,” Willis said in a statement in February.
Willis, for her part, continues to face the prospect of disqualification from the Trump case over her relationship with Wade, and the Georgia Court of Appeals is expected to rule on the matter next year.
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