Dem
51
GOP
49
Last week, Fulton County DA Fani Willis went to church and confessed (in public) that mistakes were made. Love is not only blind, but also stupid. When you are running what could be the second-most important criminal investigation of the century (after Jack Smith's investigation of the coup attempt), you don't hire your inexperienced boyfriend as lead investigator. You don't hire him at all. For anything.
Either she didn't expect to get caught or didn't expect it would be big news, but both happened. Now one of her key allies, Norm Eisen, who served as a special counsel in the first impeachment of Donald Trump, has called for her to fire the boyfriend, Nathan Wade. Eisen said that the problem isn't legal. Nothing in Georgia law says that what she did is a conflict of interest. She didn't break any laws hiring Wade, but it looks really bad. As we have mentioned before, if she had been having an affair with someone universally recognized as one of the top prosecutors in the country, she might have had a case, but she has people on her own staff far better than Wade.
Eisen says that if Willis does nothing, the criticism will only continue and the only way to stop the bleeding is to unilaterally get rid of Wade (or talk him into resigning for the good of the case). Eisen doesn't think she has to get off the case herself or resign because she was elected to her position and is doing her job. He thinks that getting rid of Wade will quell much of the furor.
Eisen also said that the facts are not really clear yet. Did she actually accept a couple of airline tickets from him? What were they worth? Maybe $500? Is that a reason for her to hire him and pay him almost $700,000 for leading an investigation? It does seem clear from her lack of denial that there is something going on. She could have said: "I did not have sexual relations with that man." Even presidents do it from time to time.
Now that the dam has been breached, probably other people who are on her side will come forward and second Eisen's motion. In the end, she will probably be forced to get rid of him or take herself out of the case. The latter would be manna from heaven for Trump since then the trial would be delayed until after the election. Eisen is right. The only way out is to dump Wade and the faster the better. She might have to then look for a new boyfriend, preferably someone who is not a lawyer. (V)