The Fulton County Board of Ethics set to hear complaints over District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday decided not to, saying that the complaints lacked jurisdiction.
Willis, who had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor on former President Donald Trump’s election interference case, avoided another investigation into her misconduct after the board scheduled to hear complaints against her were thrown out, according to the special meeting agenda.
As a district attorney, Willis is a state constitutional officer, and the county’s Board of Ethics code only applies to county officers and employees. Willis will be under the jurisdiction of the State Ethics Commission, according to a statement from the Board of Ethics.
Steven Kramer, a Fulton County resident, filed one of the complaints in January and February, citing concerns that Willis violated the code of ethics. In Kramer’s Feb. 14 complaint, he raised questions about Willis and Wade’s relationship and Wade’s compensation in addition to how taxpayers were affected after it was alleged that Willis used taxpayer dollars to fund their romantic getaways, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
A Republican-led Senate committee that listened to Willis’s testimony also pressed Willis about using taxpayer money on her relationship with Wade.
“The extra resources and financial costs for the court and the district attorney’s office, both paid for by Fulton County taxpayers like me, are to deal with this improper relationship,” Kramer wrote.
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The second complaint was filed by Gregory Mantell, a talk show host and founder of Substack blog Investigative News Service. In a Substack post, he claimed Willis had violated numerous sections of Fulton County Ethics Code and, in his January complaint, asked for the district attorney’s expense reports, according to the outlet.
Ashleigh Merchant, the defense attorney who represented Trump co-defendant Mike Roman, brought Willis and Wade’s romance into the spotlight in January court documents and was questioned this week about the relationship. Judge Scott McAffe, who is overseeing Trump’s 2020 election interference case, is still molding his decision on whether to disqualify Willis and is expected to announce his ruling sometime next week.
