Former Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade is set to testify next week before a Republican-led U.S. House panel investigating his onetime romantic relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Wade’s attorney Andrew Evans said Tuesday that his client will sit for questions in a closed-door session before the House Judiciary Committee on Oct. 15. It comes after weeks of back-and-forth over whether he’d comply with the panel’s subpoena.
Wade is expected to field queries related to Willis’ office’s use of grant funding as well as their meetings with the White House and the panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 pro-Donald Trump mob that ransacked the U.S. Capitol, Evans said.
The Judiciary Committee’s investigators had not been able to find Wade for several days in September before succeeding in serving him a summons that required him to appear in Washington.
Even so, Wade’s legal counsel bristled at the demands by Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan’s committee. Former Gov. Roy Barnes, one of Willis’ attorneys, fired off a Sept. 30 letter that objected to the “vitriol and anger” directed at his client.
“When you have calmed down and attended the anger management class,” wrote Barnes, “I will be glad to discuss this matter with you in a logical, dispassionate manner.”
At Jordan’s direction, the panel has been investigating Willis for more than a year over her handling of the prosecution of Trump and his allies. The Ohio Republican is a Trump loyalist.
Jordan has accused Willis of conducting a “politically motivated prosecution” and wants Wade to testify about his personal relationship with Willis.
Critics of the DA have blasted her for hiring Wade and paying him more than $700,000 for his work on the Trump case. They argued it is part of a larger pattern of mismanagement in her office.
Willis has defended her handling of the racketeering case and her hiring of Wade and accused Republicans of trying to meddle in an ongoing criminal case. Evans, Wade’s lawyer, has said his client has “nothing that is of interest” to the committee.
