Nathan Wade’s attorney, former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes, said his client’s testimony was “effective” after a reported four-and-a-half hour grilling Tuesday by House Judiciary Committee investigators.
The committee, chaired by Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, subpoenaed Wade to demand that he testify in a closed-door hearing about his past romantic relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Willis is prosecuting former President Donald Trump on felony charges of attempting to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state, which he lost to President Joe Biden. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Wade, the special prosecutor in the election subversion case against Trump, resigned in March after Georgia Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Willis could remain on the case, provided Wade was removed.
After Tuesday’s marathon hearing, Barnes told reporters, “We gave our testimony, cooperated, and were through.”
Wade’s attorney was then asked, “Did you feel it was an effective meeting?” He replied, “Yeah. To a follow-up question, “How so?” Barnes replied, “We answered questions.”
Wade’s attorney didn’t answer any questions related to Willis.
Fox News Radio’s Ryan Schmelz posted the exchange to X, formerly Twitter. Fox News reported Tuesday that no lawmakers were seen entering or leaving the room.
Newsweek reached out to Barnes’ Atlanta law office and Jim Jordan for comment.
After days of searching, Wade was found and served a subpoena by the House Judiciary Committee on September 27.
A letter from Jordan accompanying the subpoena said that another Wade lawyer, Andrew Evans, postponed and then canceled a voluntary Wade interview in Washington scheduled for September 18, which the lawyer confirmed to Newsweek.
Nathan Wade at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1. Wade’s attorney said his client’s testimony was “effective” after a reported four-and-a-half hour grilling by the House Judiciary Committee.
AFP/Getty Images
Jordan spokesperson Russell Dye told Newsweek last month that attempts to serve the subpoena had been fruitless. He said that Wade ignored an emailed subpoena and that his lawyer declined to accept a subpoena on his behalf.
Dye called the failure to serve the subpoena “extremely unusual” and said that efforts continued to be unsuccessful even after enlisting “the assistance of the U.S. Marshals.”
In his opening statement, as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Wade said, “I am here to cooperate, and I welcome all legal and relevant inquiries related to your defined scope. Contrary to any fabricated story that I somehow evaded service of process, I voluntarily reached out to the US Marshall’s office and suggested a meeting place and time immediately upon being made aware, through false, inflammatory media reports, of Congress‘ attempts to serve me.”
Wade also insisted in his statement that the Trump case in Georgia “was not politically motivated” and was “an independent investigation based upon facts, interviews, evidence and the rule of law.”
Willis indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants on racketeering and other felony charges last year, based in part on accusations of involvement in a plot including fake electors and Trump’s phone call asking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to help him “find” enough votes to reverse Trump’s 2020 loss to Biden.
Four co-defendants have since pleaded guilty after cutting deals with prosecutors, while Trump and his remaining co-defendants all pleaded not guilty.
The former president claims that all of his legal difficulties, which include 34 unrelated felony convictions in New York, are part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” as he seeks a second term in the White House.
