For the first time since he left the Fulton County district attorney's office with his tail between his legs, disgraced ex-special prosecutor Nathan Wade, the former lover — and subordinate — of anti-Trump DA Fani Willis, is speaking out on the sordid affair.
Willis, who hired Wade to helm the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, has likely long forgotten him as she stops at nothing to prosecute the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee, but he certainly hasn't forgotten her. Wade still thinks fondly of their extramarital exploits, romanticizing the office affair as akin to an American pastime so commonplace that "everyone" is doing it.
"Workplace romances are as American as apple pie," Wade told ABC News reporter Linsey Davis in a sit-down interview Sunday.
"It happens to everyone. But it happened to the two of us," Wade said of his sexploits with Willis, the Fulton County DA.
As for what remorse he may feel in the affair's sensational aftermath, though he has 'No Ragrets'®, Wade lamented the controversy it caused and how the Trump RICO case was almost upended — and could still very well be — as a consequence.
"Do you regret it?" Davis questioned. Wade conceded, "I regret that that private matter became the focal point of this very important prosecution," emphasizing that the Georgia election interference case against Trump is "very important."
"I hate that my personal life has begun to overshadow the true issues in the case," Wade went on.
Asked if he ever thought to put the affair "on pause" until after the Trump case concluded, Wade acknowledged that he did, indeed, think of pumping the breaks along the way, but his lust for Willis was "so strong" it overpowered any ethical foresight.
"At some point, once that bond is there, and if 'democracy is on the line,' as has been described, do you say maybe we pause this until after the case is over?" Davis pressed. "Absolutely. I'll concede that that could have been an approach," Wade admitted.
"But, there again," an unapologetic Wade countered, "when you are in the middle of it, these feelings are developing and you get to a point where the feelings are so strong that you start to want to do things that really are none of the public's concern."
Quoting a Washington Post column, Davis prompted Wade: "What were they thinking? How could two seasoned attorneys, embroiled in the prosecution of a former president, start a romance and not see this trouble coming a mile away?"
"Again, you don't plan to develop feelings. You don't plan to fall in love," Wade responded. "You don't plan to have some relationship in the workplace. You don't set out to do that. Those things develop organically. They develop over time."
While he recognizes that the timing was not "ideal" and "could have been better," Wade said, "I don't think that anything that occurred during the course of the relationship should cause question as it would relate to the sufficiency of the indictment."
Wade recounted how they became intimately involved. "So, we begin to spend inordinate amounts of time communicating during the course of the investigation — nights, weekends, evenings, mornings. I can't tell you how much time that we spent together," Wade said. "You can imagine a case of this magnitude, how much time and preparation it takes. And that's what it took."
"In doing so, unbeknownst to me, unintended consequences would happen," Wade said. "We got closer and closer and closer."
Nevertheless, Wade feels the Trump case was not consequently compromised.
"Do you think that you've done any kind of damage to this case?" Davis asked Wade.
"None at all," Wade replied with certainty. "None at all."
"Even the public perception of it?" Davis ventured.
"This takes me back to the initial statement that I made," Wade said, reiterating, "My private life became the focal point of the case, and my private life has nothing to do with the merits of that prosecution."
Still, he said, Fulton County residents should have "110% unequivocal confidence" in Willis.
Willis, who's seeking a second term, will be judged by the electorate this election cycle, Wade noted.
"In terms of the relationship that evolved between the district attorney and I, she certainly has to answer to the citizens who elected her," Wade said. "And I think that she's done a phenomenal job doing that." (Ahead of early voting in Georgia's general primary, Willis skipped the Democratic debate last weekend, leaving her opponent alone on stage talking to an empty podium.)
"She's an intelligent woman. I like to think that I'm above average intelligence as well," Wade said. "It wasn't lost upon the two of us that things could bleed over into the case and start to affect it. And so, we made the adult-like decision to do what we did."
Wade, wanting to "protect the integrity of this prosecution," declined to discuss facts of the Trump case for fear of saying or doing something that would jeopardize it. "Let me say this: My conversation here with you today is just that. It's Nathan's conversation."
"I do not speak for the district attorney's office. I do not speak for their position," Wade declared.
"As a matter of fact," Wade interjected, "I'm certain that they would rather me not be having this exchange with you."
(Days after he was sacrificed for the sake of the Trump case's continuance, Wade was supposed to make an in-person appearance on "Meet the Press," but he canceled the NBC interview at the last minute, citing "a family emergency.")
Later on, Wade said a "day of reckoning" is coming in the Trump case despite it being sidelined for months due to the scandal.
"I have to believe in the case," Wade told ABC News. "And I believe that, you know, there's going to be that day of reckoning where a Fulton County jury [...] would have to make that decision." Wade added that he hopes the jury would "do the right thing."
"We talk about a verdict that speaks the truth..." Wade said. "I expect [the jury] to listen attentively to the facts, and the evidence in the case, and apply the law that the judge instructs them and to come up with a true verdict that would speak the truth."
Today, he and Willis remain friends, Wade revealed. "How could we not?" he said. "The world is breathing down our necks."
Details of the salacious affair were divulged during disqualification proceedings addressing a slew of prosecutorial misconduct claims leveled against Willis. The hearings, which Wade called "a mockery" in the interview aired Monday on "Good Morning America," delved into the circumstances surrounding his appointment, the $710,000 in taxpayer-funded legal fees Willis paid Wade for his work on the Trump case, and the luxury "vacations around the world" the two took together on Wade's dime.
"It essentially made a mockery of the profession. And that hurts. I was not thrilled at all that the system that I've dedicated my life to, and that I've put so much into, would even allow a sideshow like this," Wade said, surprised that the hearings were even held.
"I thought that it would be dealt with swiftly, without the need for an entire circus," Wade continued. "But unfortunately, it wasn't."
Willis supposedly repaid Wade with large sums of cash she has hoarded at her home, because it's "a black thing" to do. Of course, the couple explained, the transactions can't be traced, and there is no paper trail documenting the supposed repayments.
Wade told ABC News there's "a cultural lack of understanding" about the couple's use of cash: "You can get that impression from a lack of understanding, could be a cultural lack of understanding. Could be a conceptual lack of understanding overall. What I mean by that is, culturally, we do things that other cultures may not. We might keep cash and other cultures may not do that."
Wade, a private-practice attorney who specializes primarily in personal injury and family law, was appointed by Willis despite his scant prosecutorial experience. Critics accused Willis of overpaying her under-qualified longtime lover. According to the county contracts, Willis compensated Wade at a higher rate ($250 an hour) than Georgia's top racketeering expert ($200 hourly). Willis said that her "southern gentleman" "made much more money [...] only because Wade did much more work." The couple insisted that the sexcapades started after his hiring in November 2021, but ended before Trump's August 2023 indictment. However, an ex-Willis staffer testified that the affair, which they didn't disclose until it was outed by the defense, "no doubt" began years earlier.
The judge presiding over the disqualification proceedings ruled on March 15 that there was "insufficient evidence" to find that an "actual" conflict of interest arose from the arrangement. Due to an "appearance of impropriety that remained, though, the judge offered an ultimatum: Wade steps aside or Willis is kicked off the case, which would've derailed the Trump trial indefinitely until a new prosecutor is assigned. Wade, serving as the sacrificial lamb, resigned within hours of the non-disqualification decision.
"I am offering my resignation in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American people, and to move this case forward as quickly as possible..." Wade wrote in his letter to Willis calling it quits. "Seeking justice for the people of Georgia and the United States, and being part of the effort to ensure that the rule of law and democracy are preserved, has been the honor of a lifetime."
In response, Willis praised Wade for "the professionalism and dignity you have shown in over the last 865 days." Expressing "sincere gratitude on behalf of the citizens of Fulton County," Willis applauded his "patriotism, courage, and dedication to justice."
Trump and his co-defendants have taken the matter to the Georgia Court of Appeals. With the 45-day deadline nearing on May 13, the state's appellate court is expected to rule soon on whether they'll hear the Trump team's appeal of the judge's ruling.