The early stages of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis‘s investigation of former President Donald Trump‘s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election were aided by the now-defunct House committee that led a probe into the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Lawyers and staff employed by Willis’s office met with staffers who worked on the committee in mid-April of 2022 amid a special grand jury investigation into Trump’s election subversion efforts in the Georgia county, according to a previously unreported meeting shared by Politico.
Jan. 6 committee staff allowed Fulton County attorneys to review a limited selection of the findings but not keep any records of them. The previously unreported meeting comes as billing records from local special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who was hired by Willis to lead the Trump case, revealed this week that Wade met with White House counsel two times in 2022.
Wade, who has been paid nearly $654,000 in legal fees by Willis’s office since January 2022, billed eight hours of work at a $250 hourly rate on May 23, 2022, for an event listed in an invoice as “Travel to Athens; Conf with White House Counsel.”
Wade charged Fulton County an additional $2,000 for an interview with “DC/ White House” on Nov. 18, 2022.
Although both of Wade’s meetings happened before Trump’s Aug. 14, 2023, indictment in Georgia by a special purpose grand jury, the grand jury had been convening since January 2022 — indicating Fulton County officials were working with lawmakers and communicating with White House counsel long before Trump was arraigned. It’s not immediately clear what Wade discussed with White House lawyers at the two meetings.
The Washington Examiner contacted White House counsel for comment.
A letter from Willis dated Dec. 5, 2021, directed to then-Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) reveals Willis requested the committee’s assistance. Through a series of phone calls in the weeks that followed, Fulton County attorneys and congressional committee members discussed Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021, call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to “find” enough votes to offset his defeat by President Joe Biden. Willis’s team traveled to Washington, D.C., four months later.
A former committee aide told Politico the final report from the Jan. 6 committee “transparently stated” the committee shared information with prosecutors conducting “concurrent, independent investigations.”
While not much is known about the White House counsel’s communications with Wade, the committee’s assistance of the district attorney will likely arise as a core complaint by Trump and other defendants in the indictment. One defendant in Trump’s racketeering case this week filed a complaint alleging Willis and Wade engaged in an “improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency of this case.”
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Mike Roman, one of Trump’s 14 remaining defendants, issued the complaint this week alleging Willis and Wade went on multiple cruises and trips together that were paid for by Wade while he was receiving taxpayer funds from the Fulton County district attorney’s office. The defendant contends that Wade was improperly appointed and alleges that Willis financially benefited from his appointment.
Wade is currently engaged in divorce court proceedings with his ex-wife, Joycelyn Wade. Willis received a witness subpoena earlier this week to appear at a deposition for the divorce of the pair, and Willis is expected to give a deposition under oath on Jan. 23.
