Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks in the Fulton County Government Center during a news conference, Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Atlanta. Donald Trump and several allies have been indicted in Georgia over efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is alleging the estranged wife of one of her deputies, with whom Willis is accused of having an affair, of interfering with former President Donald Trump’s Georgia election interference case.
In court filings, Willis said a “defective subpoena” seeking to depose her was “conspicuously coordinated with pleadings in the election interference case” the same day and within hours of Joycelyn Wade’s public request to depose Willis as part of the divorce proceedings involving Fulton County Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade.
“The subpoena for the deposition of District Attorney Willis is being sought in an attempt to harass and damage her professional reputation,” Willis’ lawyer, Cinque Axam, wrote in the court documents. “It is also being sought in an unreasonable manner to annoy, embarrass, and oppress the deponent.
“Defendant Joycelyn Wade has conspired with interested parties in the criminal Election Interference Case to use the civil discovery process to annoy, embarrass, and oppress District Attorney Willis,” documents said.
The Associated Press reported that Joycelyn Wade’s lawyer, Andrea Hastings, said they want to help her “resolve her divorce fairly and privately” and that any response to Willis’ motion will come in a filing with the court.
The same day that Joycelyn Wade tried to subpoena Willis, an attorney for Michael Roman, a defendant in the election interference case, filed two court motions, one to unseal the Wades’ divorce matter and the other to disqualify Willis and Nathan Wade from the election interference case, alleging a “conflict of interest” among the lawyers.
The New York Times reported that Roman’s lawyer has said that sealed court records in the pending divorce case contain documentation of Wade’s relationship with Willis.
Willis sought to quash the deposition notice, saying the deposition “is not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of relevant or admissible evidence.”
She also cited a Georgia ordinance that says, “‘Protective orders for certain high-ranking members of a governmental body or public or private entity, provides that ‘good cause for a protective order to prohibit the deposition of an officer may be shown by proof that such person is an officer and lacks unique personal knowledge of any matter that is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action.””
“More importantly, District Attorney Willis ‘lacks unique personal knowledge of any matter that is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action’ and Defendant Joycelyn Wade has not alleged otherwise,” the motion reads. “Indeed, the deposition of District Attorney Fani T. Willis cannot provide unique personal knowledge of any matter that is relevant to Defendant Wade’s divorce; because on Information and belief, the Plaintiff filed for divorce on November 2, 2021, on the grounds the marriage was irretrievably broken, and on November 30, 2021, the Defendant answered and agreed the marriage was irretrievably broken.”
Willis also said the subpoena for the deposition notice was improperly served and “fails to indicate topics, dates, or subjects which the deposition is to cover. It further fails to state the means by which the deposition shall be recorded.”
Willis said that the defendant made no specific request for information from her but added, “If, however, media reports are any indication, the defendant may intend to ask questions regarding the nature of any relationship with the Plaintiff. Because the parties agree that the marriage is irretrievably broken and the concept of fault is not at issue, there is no information that District Attorney Willis could provide that might prove relevant to granting or denying the divorce. Thus, any information sought from District Attorney Willis would be irrelevant to the divorce proceedings pending in this Court.”
She said the sought-after deposition is “outside the scope” of the pending divorce action and the scope of discovery.
“On information and belief, defendant is using discovery as a vehicle to harass non-party Deponent Willis,” court documents said. “The sought-after deposition of District Attorney Willis is not relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action and should not be permitted. Defendant Joyce Wade’s failure to identify a relevant purpose for the sought-after deposition suggests that it is intended to harass.”
Willis said that as early as 2017, before Nathan J. Wade met Willis, he and Joycelyn Wade agreed that their marriage was “irretrievably broken after the defendant Joycelyn Wade confessed to an adulterous relationship with the plaintiff’s longtime friend,” the motion said. “The Defendant Joycelyn Wade’s adultery precluded any chance of reconciliation.”
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