Tipsheet

Fani Willis Could Be Saved by Her Father

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  February 15, 2024 6:45 AM

An unlikely figure may swoop in to save the embattled and enamored Fani Willis.

A handful of the Fulton County district attorney's allies and associates are expected to testify at Thursday's highly anticipated evidentiary hearing on the prosecutorial misconduct claims Willis is facing over her admitted affair with top Trump prosecutor Nathan Wade. Among the pro-Willis witnesses is the Democrat DA's father, who co-founded the Black Panther Political Party.

John C. Floyd III, also an attorney, will deliver testimony remotely from California in his daughter's defense.

Willis and Floyd reportedly maintain a close relationship. Back in September, Willis told The New York Post she frequently speaks to her father as often as 10 times a day. "I have an absolutely amazing father and I'm very privileged to have been raised by such a great man," Willis said, touting that his values continue to guide her. "My father taught me that every single person is entitled to dignity and respect no matter who they are—no matter their race, religion or socio-economic status. And those things run through my veins. It's the way I try to treat people every single day: They're entitled to dignity and respect no matter who they are."

However, she didn't directly address Floyd's past as a high-ranking member of the 1960s radical Black Panthers movement. According to The Post, Floyd was also once chairman of the Black Panther Political Party, a faction of the Black Panthers.

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During a meeting where the party was founded, Floyd is quoted declaring: "Malcolm X is going to be our patron saint. Our political philosophy is black nationalism." Floyd has previously called the police an "occupying army" and "the enemy."

In an interview for the "Black Power Archives," Floyd said he was so high up in the Black Panthers hierarchy that he befriended Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Floyd was also a close acquaintance of Huey P. Newton, the leader of the Black Panther Party, which was more militant than, but allied with, Floyd's Black Panther Political Party. Additionally, Floyd said he dated communist activist Angela Davis, who was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives list. In a 1974 memoir, "Free," Davis mentioned Floyd twice.

Floyd's sworn statements supporting his daughter's side of the story are supposed to undermine accusations of Willis and Wade being domestic partners, because Floyd purportedly lived with her at the time she is alleged to have shacked up with Wade.

Trump co-defendant Mike Roman's defense counsel Ashleigh Merchant first made the affair allegations in an explosive January 8 court filing accusing Willis of engaging in "improper," "clandestine" relations with Wade, from which she "personally benefitted" and "profited significantly" at the "expense" of Georgia taxpayers. On November 1, 2021, Willis hired Wade, a private-practice lawyer with minimal experience prosecuting criminal cases, to lead the prosecution of former President Donald Trump on election fraud charges. A day later, Wade filed for divorce from his wife of 26 years; that case has been temporarily settled discreetly.

Since Wade's appointment, he has collected over $654,000 in taxpayer-funded paychecks by charging the county $250 an hour in legal fees for his yearslong work on the Trump case. Credit card statements cited in divorce documents show that Wade has spent thousands on airplane tickets, Caribbean cruises, and high-end resorts, with Willis listed as a passenger on the bookings.

Barely meeting the court-ordered deadline on February 2, Willis finally formally acknowledged the romantic relationship with Wade, but she denied that the affair constitutes a conflict of interest that would be grounds for disqualification and the case's dismissal. There, Willis asked that the court flat-out deny Merchant's motions to disqualify her and dismiss the grand jury indictment without holding an evidentiary hearing, which she said was "unnecessary" and would cause "a further spectacle."

In an affidavit affixed to Willis's 176-page rebuttal, Wade declaratively claimed they "never cohabitated" and that nothing romantically transpired between them prior to his hiring. The two "developed a personal relationship in addition to our professional association and friendship" sometime in 2022, Wade alleged, well after he was awarded the contract.

In response, Merchant claimed the couple started dating far earlier than disclosed—in October of 2019 at a training conference. Merchant said she has witnesses lined up who will testify Wade was a live-in lover of Willis at her home in South Fulton until Floyd moved in. Then, he began to "cohabitate at the apartment of a friend of hers in East Point," Merchant alleged. Merchant also has witnesses ready to testify that the two bunked together at an Airbnb "safe house" paid for by taxpayer money, she said.

Thursday's hearing, which could stretch into Friday, will determine if the controversy justifies kicking Willis off the Trump case.

Judge Scott McAfee, who's presiding over the proceedings and will ultimately make the decision, said in court Monday it's "possible" Willis could be removed from the prosecution. "I think it's possible that the facts alleged by the defendant could result in disqualification," he said. "I think an evidentiary hearing must occur to establish the record on those core allegations." The law says "disqualification can occur if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one," he remarked.

"The state has admitted a relationship existed. So what remains to be proven is the existence and extent of any financial benefit, again if there even was one..." McAfee specified, clarifying that the matter in dispute would be limited to "whether that relationship was romantic or non-romantic in nature, when it formed and whether it continues." The judge added, "That's only relevant because it's in combination with the question of the existence and extent of any benefit conveyed as a result of their relationship."

McAfee insisted at Monday's conference, which laid the ground rules for the legal battle ahead, that he would keep Thursday's hearing limited in scope, indicating he would not hesitate to intervene on his own volition if the defense counsel's arguments amount to what he deems "harassment or undue embarrassment" of the prosecutors. McAfee warned he's "not going to feel inhibited from stepping in, even without an objection from counsel, to move this along and keep it focused on the issues at hand."

Though he denied Willis's bid to block a subpoena compelling her testimony, at least for now, McAfee spared her from being the first to take the witness stand. "It would be important that from the outset we're not talking about calling Ms. Willis as the first witness," McAfee declared, still leaving the door open for the DA to answer questions under oath about their extramarital exploits.

"We need to get over a few procedural hurdles before we can get there," McAfee added.

Merchant has subpoenaed Wade's ex-law partner Terrence Bradley, who represented Wade in his divorce dispute, to divulge details of the romantic relationship, including when it began and whether staffers in the Willis administration were well aware of it. If the defense can prove that the relationship predated Wade's employment, it would contradict what Wade stated on the record.

Of course, Willis sought to quash the subpoena, arguing that anything Bradley knows is protected by attorney-client privilege. Willis has condemned the defense's laundry list of subpoenas as "incredibly inappropriate efforts to intrude into opposing counsel's personal life with little to no evidentiary value" in order to "embarrass and harass the District Attorney personally."

McAfee did, however, quash a subpoena for one of Wade's bank accounts and also asserted that his prosecutorial experience bears no relevance, ruling out the defense delving into Wade's lackluster qualifications. "In my mind, as long as a lawyer has a heartbeat and a bar card," McAfee said, then the appointment is a matter "within the district attorney's discretion" alone. Willis has said that her lover "made much more money than the other special prosecutors only because Wade did much more work."

McAfee has set aside the rest of the week to hear evidence. The arguments will be broadcast on the judge's YouTube channel.