The Georgia district-attorney trying former US president Donald Trump for seeking to overturn his 2020 election defeat has acknowledged having a personal relationship with the lead prosecutor she appointed  to lead the case.

Fulton County’s Fani Willis in a court filing said claims that threatened to up-end her office’s historic prosecution had “no merit”.

Trump and two co-defendants are seeking to disqualify Willis and dismiss the charges, alleging Willis benefited financially from an “improper, clandestine personal relationship” with Nathan Wade, a lawyer she hired to help lead the investigation.

“While the allegations raised in the various motions are salacious and garnered the media attention they were designed to obtain, none

Fani Willis says Trump’s racism is driving his criticism of her and the George prosecution.

provide this Court with any basis upon which to order the relief they seek,” Willis said in the filing.

The case is one of four criminal prosecutions Trump faces as he closes in on the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in November’s election.

The Georgia prosecutions stem from a tape recording of Trump telling an election official “to find 11,000 votes”, which prosecutors assert was an order to stuff ballot boxes with bogus votes.

Trump has launched multiple challenges that could delay the start of any trial by weeks or months.

As he has before, Trump criticised Willis in a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday, saying, “THIS SCAM IS TOTALLY DISCREDITED & OVER!”.

Conflict of interest claims

Despite it having been confirmed that Willis has paid roughly $650,000 in fees so far, more than more experienced prosecutors, Willis said her

Fani Willis says Trump’s racism is driving his criticism of her and the George prosecution.relationship with Wade did not give either prosecutor a personal or financial stake.

She has dismissed the charges of a conflict of interest of hand, saying they were based on “fantastical theories and rank speculation.”

In a sworn statement, Wade said the personal relationship with Willis began in 2022, after he was hired as a special prosecutor on the 2020 election probe.

Willis received no financial benefit from the relationship, her statement said.

Citing unnamed sources and previously sealed court records, Trump co-defendant Michael Roman alleged in a court filing that Wade paid for holidays with Willis while he was being compensated by her office for work on the probe.

Trump and his co-defendants accused Willis of a conflict of interest and suggested her relationship with Wade may run afoul of state ethics rules and US law.

A key element of  the Trump camp’s allegations is that Wade’s previous experience was largely limited to small claims courts.

Records released as part of Wade’s divorce case show he paid for airline flights with Willis on at least two occasions during the investigation.

Divorce case dirty linen

He was also named as a co-respondent in his estranged wife’s court case, a move which would have forced Willis to testify in the case but was averted at the last minute when he settled.

Wade said in the sworn statement that personal travel expenses had been divided “roughly equally” between the two.

Trump’s legal team endorsed Roman’s allegations and said Willis “inappropriately injected race into the case” during a speech responding to Roman’s allegations.

Willis said during the speech that she hired three special counsels for the election interference investigation and noted that only Wade, who like her is black, has come under scrutiny. Neither of the other black prosecutors, however, is known to have been romantically involved with her.

In Georgia, Trump and 14 of his political allies are facing racketeering and other charges in a sweeping indictment accusing them of conspiring to reverse his narrow 2020 defeat in the state.

Four defendants originally charged in the case have pleaded guilty to minor charges such as trespassing after striking deals with prosecutors.

Willis asked the judge overseeing the case to deny the attempts to remove her office from the case without holding a hearing.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has already scheduled a February 15 hearing focused on the allegations.

-with AAP