Former President Donald Trump managed to combine three of his favorite pastimes into one speech on Saturday — making crass sexual comments, belittling his perceived political enemies, and attacking the prosecutors at the helm of his four felony cases.
At a rally in Greensboro, NC., the former reality star seemed to be implying that special counsel Nathan Wade was having “plenty” of something with his “lover” Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.
Here’s what he said:
“How about that one? How about that one with her lover, Nathan Wade, her lover. Let’s go get Trump! Because if they go after Trump, they can pay him more money. And then she can take beautiful trips on the sea, beautiful trips to foreign islands. Her and her lover. They have such a good time. The guy got paid almost $1 million and he never did it before. But he did the other thing before. That he did with Fani. He did plenty of that. That’s what he’s good at, I guess.”
The comments came after a contentious disqualification hearing pushed by Trump and several co-defendants in Willis’ Georgia election interference case.
The defendants in the election interference case are arguing that Willis financially benefitted from hiring her romantic partner on to the Georgia case — and that their relationship created the appearance of a “conflict of interest” on Willis’ part. However, Willis and Wade have both stated under oath that they began their relationship after they started working together, and that she did not benefit from the relationship financially.
The crassness of the comments aside — it’s also worth noting that while most legal experts think the relationship was ill advised, the implication that Wade was unqualified for the position isn’t borne out by the facts.
The Root spoke to Ambassador Norman Eisen (ret.), a senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institute and an expert in law, ethics, and anti-corruption about the case last month about Wade’s expertise.
Trump’s allies have attempted to paint Wade as an unqualified nepotism hire. Eisen says that’s patently false. “It’s a lie that Mr. Wade is not qualified,” Eisen said, noting Wade’s extensive trial experience. “I think both of them are outstanding lawyers.”
Regardless of what happens to Willis and Wade, the former President is still facing 91 felony counts. Commenting on the sex lives of those prosecuting his case isn’t going to change that anytime soon.