'It's a dumba** question': Fani Willis says she didn't tell boyfriend Nathan Wade plans to prosecute Trump until after 2020 election, when she hired him

Fani Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney who had been disqualified from the 2020 election case against Trump, appeared before the Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations on Wednesday, during which she was questioned about her relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor in the case who removed himself after a court ruling.  

Willis was questioned about whether she and Wade had a conversation about launching an investigation into Trump prior to her being elected as District Attorney in 2020. In response to the question, Willis told Roy Barnes, the former Georgia Governor serving as her counsel for the hearing, "it’s a dumba** question."

"So it's your testimony today that you and Mr. Wade, did not have any conversations prior to you taking office, relative to an investigation into the 2020 election," Vice Chairman Greg Dolezal asked. 

Barnes told Willis, "don’t answer that," adding, "that is a deliberative privilege of what goes on in the District Attorney’s mind in the process of—" and was cut off by Dolezal noting that Willis was not the District Attorney at that point. Barnes replied that she was, to which Dolezal said, "prior to being sworn in she was District Attorney?" Barnes admitted she was not. 

Dolezal repeated his question: "Prior to you being sworn in as District Attorney, is it your testimony today that you did not have any conversation with Mr. Wade about investigating the 2020 election?" After a moment of silence, Barnes turned to Willis, asking, "do you want to answer?" Willis replied, "it’s a dumba** question."

"I didn’t know that he was going to commit a crime prior to me taking office," Willis said. 

At one point, Dolezal read out portions of Wade’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Wade said that the search committee for then-newly elected Willis began when Willis took office on January 1, 2021, and that there was outreach for him to be part of that committee "sometime after the election, but prior to her taking office." He said those conversations were "mostly with the District Attorney."

Willis replied, "So I think you're confusing facts. We've already had a long conversation about, I interviewed everybody at the DAs office, and I interviewed other people to come and work at the District Attorney's office. And as I told you, I did that on my free time before I became DA. But I had no way of knowing that these criminals were gonna commit a crime, and that did not come to light until January of 2021, when I'm actually the DA. 

"So is a factual impossibility, like I already told you. I think that that is misinterpreted. He's absolutely correct. We looked for talent for the district attorney's office before I became the DA. I didn't wait to the day I took office to look for talent that would represent my office. But I was unable to look for talent for a case that didn't exist before I took office. It’s factually impossible."