The co-defendant in Donald Trump’s election interference case in Georgia who revealed the relationship between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade is struggling to raise money for his defense.
Former Trump official Michael Roman has raised just over $62,000 since September through a GiveSendGo fundraiser, despite his role in upending the case’s prosecution. A GoFundMe page created to help Trump with his various legal challenges, including his defense in the Georgia case, has raised over $1.3 million since it was created two and a half weeks ago.
Roman, who has worked for Trump since his 2016 campaign, was the co-defendant who exposed the “personal relationship” between Willis and Wade, whom the DA hired as the case’s lead prosecutor. Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, disclosed the explosive revelation in a January 8 court filing as part of her motion to have Willis and her office disqualified from the prosecution and the charges against Roman to be dropped.
Roman is among the 18 co-defendants who were charged alongside Trump in the Fulton County case, which alleges that they tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Roman has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, as has Trump.
While the case had been seen as the strongest legal action against Trump after his four criminal indictments, it has faced turmoil since Merchant made the accusations about Willis in the January filing. The relationship had not been made public before Merchant’s filing, although both Willis and Wade admitted to being romantically involved in the wake of the filing. Several co-defendants, including Trump, have since joined Roman’s motion.
In response to the misconduct allegations against Wills, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee held several hearings last month to consider Roman’s request. Those hearings included testimony from Willis and star witness Terrence Bradley, who had previously texted Merchant that he “absolutely” believed that Willis and Wade had begun their relationship before Wade’s appointment to her prosecution team. Both Willis and Wade have maintained that their relationship did not begin until after she hired him to join the case.
“The Fulton County District Attorney said the trial will last at least four months,” Roman’s fundraiser page says. “Mike’s legal team believes it could be longer. The legal fees and false, negative publicity have financially devastated him and his family. The trial in Atlanta is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mike Roman is innocent. Please help him defend the truth.”
The fundraiser’s goal is $300,000.
Alex Slitz/Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
“Your financial support was critical in getting me this far, but there is a long way to go. Your donations are needed now more than ever,” Roman said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on January 18.
Roman, a longtime opposition researcher, first joined Trump’s 2016 campaign as a senior adviser in charge of overseeing poll-watching efforts. After Trump was elected, Roman served in the White House as the director of special projects and research until April 2018. He subsequently worked for Trump’s 2020 campaign as director of Election Day operations. Before working for Trump, he oversaw the research unit for the influential political network founded by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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