Fani Willis could face criminal charges after allegations of office 'romance': expert

Their alleged romance might be a crime.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who stands accused of trysting with a private attorney Nathan Wade whom she hired on to try the sprawling RICO election subversion case lodged against 19 defendants who include former President Donald Trump — could become a criminal defendant.

“If it is found that Wade and Willis had an improper relationship beginning before she hired him as special counsel, it could lead to state or federal charges because D.A. Willis may have financially benefitted from an undisclosed personal relationship at taxpayer expense,” Atlanta defense attorney Andrew Fleischman told Salon.

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The pair is accused of spending public funds on lavish trips together to Napa Valley, Florida, and the Caribbean.

Each has been subpoenaed to testify at a forthcoming evidentiary hearing to pore over allegations that they were engaged in an improper relationship while investigating Trump and others in the case where Trump and his loyal followers tried to sway electors to flip for the 45th president despite Biden winning the state.

A copy of the lawsuit, obtained by ABC News, accuses Willis and special prosecutor Wade of "intentionally withholding information" as well as "stonewalling" co-defendant and ex-Trump operative Michael Roman's attorney's efforts to obtain records from the office through public information requests.

That lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, had filed the stunning motion on Jan. 8 seeking to dismiss the indictment and to force Willis and special prosecutor Wade from the case.

Should the love affair and spending spree accusations against Willis and Wade prove true, Fleischman believes that the case she's spearheading will be "almost impossible" to find a replacement D.A. because it will “strengthen claims of bias and corruption” that the defense attorneys for any number of the defendants could flag come trial.

Fleischman then gamed out the potential scenarios should the case soldier on to trial.

“Defense counsel will almost certainly ask for a pretrial appeal, which they may or may not get,” he told Salon. “If that happens, the case will be significantly delayed."

And then there's a chance that without this pretrial action, the defendants could fight and win an appeal to nix any possible guilty verdicts.

Correction: a previous version of this article misquoted the amount of funds at issue.