A Republican-led congressional committee is attempting to subpoena Nathan Wade but so far has been unable to locate the former Fulton County special prosecutor, according to a spokesman for the panel.
The U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which for more than a year has been investigating District Attorney Fani Willis and the Georgia election interference case, has been seeking to compel Wade’s testimony for a Thursday hearing in Washington. But the panel has for days been unable to serve the summons to the Marietta attorney, and spokesman Russell Dye indicated the committee has tapped the U.S. Marshals to locate him.
“The Judiciary Committee has served over 100 subpoenas this Congress. We have done so, for the most part, without controversy or the need to use the U.S. Marshals,” Dye said. “Nathan Wade’s evasion of service is extremely unusual and will require the Committee to spend U.S. tax dollars to locate him.”
Wade did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. His attorney, Andrew Evans, said his client “has nothing that is of interest” to the committee.
“This is all about political theater. Doesn’t Jim Jordan have more important things to do?” Evans told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, referring to the Ohio Republican who chairs the Judiciary committee and is a close ally of former President Donald Trump.
The subpoena is the latest in a series of requests Jordan has made to scrutinize Willis’ handling of the election case against Trump and more than a dozen of his supporters; Trump claims Willis is attempting to interfere with the 2024 vote.
In a letter accompanying the subpoena, Jordan said that Evans, had previously agreed that his client would voluntarily sit for a transcribed interview on Sept. 18. But in the days leading up to the meeting, Evans asked to postpone and later said Wade wouldn’t appear due to concerns raised by former Gov. Roy Barnes, who is representing Willis.
“The eleventh-hour intervention from District Attorney Willis does not excuse your failure to appear for your transcribed interview,” Jordan wrote to Wade.
Barnes called Jordan’s move “ridiculous.”
He said that Wade had been scheduled to sit for an interview in July and suggested Republicans canceled so that they could drum up a fight close to the election.
“This type of action looks like a publicity stunt to further Jim Jordan’s campaigning for Donald Trump‚” said Barnes, Georgia’s last Democratic governor. “This is no more than political grandstanding.”
Credit: NYT
Credit: NYT
‘Politically motivated prosecution’
The subpoena is the latest escalation of the Judiciary committee’s investigation of Willis, which began shortly after Trump was indicted in Atlanta last summer. Jordan has repeatedly accused Willis of conducting a “politically motivated prosecution” and suggested she has coordinated with President Joe Biden and the since-disbanded congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Willis, meanwhile, has blasted Jordan and congressional Republicans for trying to “obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding and to advance outrageous misrepresentations.” In a letter last fall, Willis described a separate demand from Jordan as “ignorant of the United States and Georgia Constitutions and codes.”
Jordan’s committee had asked Wade to testify about his previous personal relationship with Willis, which first surfaced in January. Jordan also requested that Wade produce numerous documents related to his work on the Trump prosecution, including meetings he and colleagues had with the Jan. 6 committee and members of the Biden White House.
In a recent letter to the committee, Barnes noted that Willis had objected to Wade providing the documents, calling the demands “improper” and in violation of separation of powers.
Barnes also insisted that the DA’s office have a representative present at Wade’s interview so Willis could “protect sensitive and confidential information related to ongoing criminal cases.”
“Any interview of Mr. Wade could implicate secret grand jury information, confidential investigative sources and information protected by attorney-client, work produce and deliberative process privileges, among others,” Barnes wrote.
Jordan said Wade’s testimony could help the committee determine whether it needs to advance legislation to “remedy politically motivated local prosecutions by allowing a current or former president to remove the case to a more neutral forum in federal court.” (A year ago, Trump’s Atlanta attorneys passed on the opportunity to try and move the Georgia case from Fulton to federal court, saying they had “well-founded confidence” that the trial judge would “fully and completely protect” the former president’s right to a fair trial.)
Jordan said the committee is also considering legislation that would set stricter guidelines on how federal grant funds are used.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
The congressional probe is part of a broader effort by Trump’s allies to undermine Willis’ prosecution of Trump.
Top Republicans in the Georgia Senate have tried to use a new state law to reprimand Willis for bringing the case. Last month, senators subpoenaed her to appear before the chamber’s Special Committee on Investigations, which was created to investigate her conduct. Willis declined to appear and the matter is now being fought in Fulton Superior Court.
Meanwhile, the bulk of the election interference case remains frozen as the Georgia Court of Appeals considers arguments from nine defendants who say Willis and her office should be removed from the prosecution in part because of the DA’s romantic relationship with Wade. Oral arguments are scheduled for Dec. 5.
