And the hits just keep on comin’! Late yesterday, in a day filled with all sorts of development in the Fani Willis scandal, yet another shoe dropped in the saga. After evidence emerged that Willis-appointed special prosecutor Nathan Wade did indeed spend some of the money Willis paid him for her travel and vacations, the Fulton County Audit Committee has now taken an interest in the case.

County commissioner and committee chair Bob Ellis sent a letter to Willis demanding to know if she benefited from the taxpayer funds she directed to Wade. Because if she did, well … that’s a big no bueno:

Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis, the chairman of the county’s audit committee, sent a letter to Willis Friday evening asking whether she engaged in a “romantic relationship” with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, “misused” county funds, and “accepted valuable gifts and personal benefits from a contractor/recipient of County funds.”

“These allegations involve your decision to appoint Nathan Wade to serve as a special prosecutor in the matter in which former President Trump is a co-defendant. Mr. Wade is alleged to (1) lack relevant prosecutorial experience in a case of this type and complexity, (2) have paid for your portion of multiple instances of joint leisure travel, and (3) be in a romantic relationship with you that was not disclosed to the court or to the parties in the case,” Ellis wrote.

Follow the money! Actually, Jocelyn Wade and her attorneys have made that pretty easy, thanks to their court filing yesterday. (Techno Fog has images of the receipts in the filing for those interested in the details.) That eliminated the knee-jerk ‘no evidence’ arguments from last week, attempting to defend Willis (and Wade) from the initial claim made by Michael Roman’s attorney. Willis had tried to be cagey, refusing to answer the claim directly and attempting to play the race card instead, and then claim that Mrs. Wade had cheated on Nathan Wade first, which was a non-sequitur of sorts and a potential violation of the seal on the divorce proceeding. Immediately afterward, Mrs. Wade’s attorneys provided the bank records, a clear backfire on Willis and Wade.

By the way, Mrs. Wade disputed that accusation late yesterday in a response to the court in the divorce proceeding:

In the motion, Willis also said the Wades’ marriage had been irretrievably broken because Joycelyn Wade had an adulterous relationship with a longtime friend of Nathan Wade’s.

On Friday, Joycelyn Wade’s lawyers responded and said Willis “does, in fact, possess intimate information about the Wades’ marriage, albeit false and libelous misinformation.” The motion said Wade did not have an affair with that individual nor did she meet with him in person.

Did Willis lie about Ms. Wade to avoid a subpoena? We don’t know the answer to that question yet, but would anyone be surprised if Willis did? One has to wonder how long Willis and Wade have conducted a sexual relationship. Based on the filings and the subpoena, Mrs. Wade appears to believe it has been going on for a while, before Willis hired Wade.

That brings us back to the subpoena and Willis’ strange and threatening reaction to it. CNN’s Elie Honig called Willis’ response to Mrs. Wade’s subpoena “very improper,” and wondered why Willis chose to inject the criminal case into the Wades’ divorce at all:

“I think the DA is far out of line here. She receives a subpoena in a divorce case. The subpoena is not an accusation. A subpoena means you’re a witness who has relevant information. Clearly, she has information about Mr. Wade, about his finances, about whatever his current relationships may be,” Honig said.

He added that he believes Willis’ response to the subpoena is “very improper,” adding that a district attorney should not use a criminal case as a shield.

“And the way the DA responded to that is she took the criminal case against Donald Trump and injected that into the divorce case, trying to use it as a shield from her having to testify. She clearly has relevant information. And I think it’s is very improper for her to say, well, you’re trying to interfere with this criminal case. That’s the DA who is using the criminal case as a shield, and I think she’s wrong there,” Honig said.

And let’s not forget the threat to charge Mrs. Wade for obstruction of the criminal case for subpoenaing her. That goes beyond “improper” to “abuse of power,” which may well come back to bite Willis at some point.

The auditor demand also opens up another dangerous path for Willis. As a Fulton County officer, she has a fiduciary duty to the county to ensure budgeted funds are properly spent. The audit committee polices those responsibilities and has every right to demand the information they are requesting. If they find that Willis has corruptly used those funds for her personal benefit and/or the personal benefit of a romantic partner, they could refer the case for prosecution. And not in Fulton County, but likely to the state Attorney General’s office. The current Georgia AG is Republican Christopher Carr, who’s held the office since 2016.

If only someone had advised Willis not to engage in romantic relationships with subordinates! Actually, someone did warn Willis not to do that, and that someone was … Fani Willis. The Free Beacon found this delightful clip from her 2020 campaign, in which Willis criticized her predecessor over sexual-harassment complaints. Willis insisted she knew how to put an end to it:

“I certainly will not be choosing people to date that work under me. Let me just say that,” Willis said during an April 2020 appearance on the Patricia Crayton Show, months before she was elected. Willis also claimed in the interview that the public cares little when married men cheat on their wives.

“You know, we are at a place in society where things happen in people’s relationships—husband and wife sometimes there are outside relationships,” Willis said. “I don’t think that’s what the community is concerned about.”

“I think that what citizens are really, really concerned about,” Willis goes on to say, “is if you chose to have inappropriate contact with employees. There’s nothing I can say about it other than it’s distracting,” Willis continues, “and it’s certainly inappropriate for the number-one law enforcement officer in the state.” Willis goes on to say that it would be “sad” if taxpayers had to pay for the lawsuits that result from such relationships.

Great advice. For others, apparently.

As with yesterday’s earlier revelations, Willis seems to be in an untenable position politically and legally. The race card only goes so far, especially when your paramour’s estranged wife has access to all of his receipts and bank records. On February 2nd, Willis has to answer these allegations in court or find herself in contempt. Anyone else would resign and try to avoid any further damage to her ability to practice law. Is Willis smart enough to try that escape route? She wasn’t smart enough to avoid this, so … stay tuned.