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Georgia DA Fani Willis’ alleged lover asks for protective order in divorce case

Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade has asked for a protective order in his divorce case amid controversy over an alleged “improper” relationship with his boss, District Attorney Fani Willis. Wade, who is leading the election interference case against former President Trump and 18 others, is involved in a contentious split with his estranged wife of 26 years, Joycelyn Wade. A Cobb County Superior Court judge unsealed filings in Wade’s divorce case last week, revealing that Joycelyn Wade’s attorneys sought to depose Willis to answer questions about their alleged affair.  In a filing last Wednesday, Wade’s attorneys argued a protective order is needed “due to the sensitive nature of the parties’ financial information and documents.”  Among the unsealed documents were bank statements showing that Wade had purchased plane tickets for himself and Willis. He also made payments for a Royal Caribbean cruise and luxury hotel stays, though the documents did not provide direct evidence of an affair. Other documents show Wade was questioned about his drug and alcohol use, though he is not accused of substance abuse.  TRUMP PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS’ WHITE HOUSE MEETINGS WARRANT ‘VERY DEEP INVESTIGATION,’ EX-PROSECUTOR SAYS Joycelyn Wade’s attorneys claimed that the bank statements show that “Ms. Willis was an intended travel partner for at least some of these trips as indicated by flights he purchased for her to accompany him.”  They asserted that there “appears to be no reasonable explanation for their travels apart from a romantic relationship.”  Willis has neither confirmed nor denied the alleged romantic relationship.  The affair allegations surfaced earlier this month when Trump codefendant Michael Roman’s lawyer accused Willis and Nathan Wade of engaging in an improper relationship and mishandling public money in a separate court filing. Roman’s lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, did not provide evidence of the alleged relationship between Willis and Wade but pointed to proof in Wade’s divorce case. TOP TRUMP PROSECUTOR, GEORGIA DA ALLEGED TO BE IN ‘IMPROPER’ ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP: COURT FILING Merchant alleges that Willis’ purported relationship with Wade created a conflict of interest and that she benefited financially from the relationship in the form of lavish vacations the two took using funds his law firm had received for working on the case. County records show that Wade has been paid nearly $654,000 in legal fees since January 2022, an amount authorized by the district attorney, or Willis in this case. Joycelyn Wade’s attorneys have argued Willis’ deposition is needed to determine whether Nathan Wade has spent their client’s money on another woman — Willis.  Willis fought the subpoena, asserting she has nothing to do with the divorce and that any alleged affair is irrelevant in this case. Her attorney, Cinque Axam, argued in court filings that Joycelyn Wade has “conspired with interested parties in the criminal Election Interference Case to use the civil discovery process to annoy, embarrass, and oppress District Attorney Willis.” FULTON COUNTY PROSECUTOR, FANI WILLIS ROMANTIC PARTNER, MET WITH BIDEN WHITE HOUSE TWICE BEFORE CHARGING TRUMP Axam accused Joycelyn Wade of “obstructing and interfering” with the district attorney’s ongoing case against Trump. Joycelyn Wade’s attorneys denied she was attempting to “harass” Willis and said the subpoena was “to seek pertinent information from her husband’s paramour regarding her relationship with Plaintiff and the extension to the Plaintiff’s financial involvement in the same.” A judge last week put the deposition on hold at least until he can hear from Nathan Wade, who has not been deposed.  A hearing in the divorce case is set for Wednesday when Wade could be questioned about the alleged affair. Fox News’ Samantha Daigle; Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion, Anders Hagstrom, Brian Flood, Brandon Gillespie and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Biden admin changes its tune on the Middle East months after declaring it ‘quieter’ than it’s been in decades

Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared this week that the Middle East is in its most volatile state since 1973, a drastic change from the Biden administration’s tone on the region just months ago. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated in September that the Middle East was “quieter” then than it had been in two decades. Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel occurred just days later, throwing the region into turmoil and posing a threat of wider war between the U.S. and Israel and Iran. “I think it’s very important to note that this is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East,” Blinken said during a joint press conference with NATO on Monday. “I would argue that we’ve not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the region since at least 1973, and arguably even before that.” “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades,” Sullivan wrote in a Foreign Policy magazine article published just eight days before Oct. 7. “Now, challenges remain. Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and the tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, but the amount of time I have to spend on crisis and conflict in the Middle East today compared to any of my predecessors going back to 9/11 is significantly reduced.” BIDEN DROVE ‘HISTORICALLY’ CLOSE MIDDLE EAST ALLIES INTO THE ARMS OF AMERICA’S GREATEST ENEMIES, EXPERTS SAY Late last year, NBC News’ Kristen Welker pressed Sullivan on how he and the rest of the Biden administration could have been “so far off the mark” when it came to the reality of tensions in the region. ISRAEL TO BAN REBUILDING OF ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS IN GAZA FOLLOWING CONCERNS FROM BIDEN ADMIN “Well, first, Kristen, I made those comments in the context of developments in the wider Middle East region over the last few years after two decades that involved a civil war in Yemen and a massive humanitarian catastrophe, a civil war in Syria and a massive refugee crisis, an invasion and insurgency in Iraq, a NATO military operation in Libya. Iranian-backed attacks on both Saudi and the UAE as well as many other steps including the rise of a terrorist caliphate that actually occupied a huge amount of territory,” Sullivan responded. “It is true that those two threats remained a real challenge to the long term stability of the Middle East region and we’ve just seen this absolutely tragic attack, but at no point did the Biden administration take its eye off the ball of the threats to Israel. In fact, President Biden saw Prime Minister Netanyahu just weeks before this attack to discuss the security challenges facing the state of Israel and we continue to support them to as significant or greater an extent than any previous administration,” he added. ISRAELI FORCES DESTROY HAMAS TUNNEL SYSTEM BUILT UNDER CEMETERY, IDF SAYS Foreign Policy later updated Sullivan’s essay to remove the line claiming a “quieter” Middle East. It also added an editor’s note stating the passage had been “updated to address Hamas’s attack on Israel, which occurred after the print version of the article went to press.” Another now-removed section of the essay claimed that the West Bank, not Gaza, posed the greater threat of conflagration between Israel and Palestinians. Months after Sullivan’s analytical blunders, President Biden is now considering what actions to take against Iran and its proxy terrorist groups following a lethal drone attack on U.S. forces in Jordan. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby repeatedly insisted the administration does not want war with Iran, but he acknowledged Biden must walk a fine line in responding to the attack without further escalating the conflict.

Speaker Johnson faces new GOP rebellion, this time from moderates

House GOP leaders are potentially staring down a new rebellion within the Republican Conference – this time from front-line moderates in New York and California. Republicans who represent the politically fickle suburbs outside major cities there and elsewhere are frustrated that Congress’ tax bill does not touch state and local tax (SALT) deductions. Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., who represents part of Long Island, suggested to reporters on Tuesday morning that he and his colleagues would even consider deliberately taking down GOP bills by voting against procedural measures known as “rule” votes. “We’re gonna assess all of our options,” LaLota said. “I want to be in a conference where I live on a two-way street, where my input is valued, my constituents’ input is valued. I voted for a lot of things over the last 13 or 14 months, helped out a lot of my teammates.” JOHNSON CAUGHT BETWEEN WARRING HOUSE GOP FACTIONS: ‘DRIFTING TOWARD MOB RULE’ He said his coalition was currently in talks with the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has weaponized rule votes several times this Congress to protest GOP leadership’s handling of government spending. “There’s an odd coalition that’s formed between Freedom Caucus members and the SALT caucus members,” he said. “Like me, they’re frustrated about the process. We want this to be a member-driven conference, the speaker promised us that.” That opposition to the tax bill is likely to prompt Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to bring it for a vote under suspension, which bypasses the procedural rule vote in exchange for raising the threshold for passage to two-thirds rather than a simple majority. With the GOP’s two-seat majority, that means they’ll need Democratic votes. CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS STRIKE DEAL TO PUNT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN DEADLINES Many SALT Republicans were quick to point out that they represent moderate districts, including those won by President Biden in 2020, and argued that a failure to address SALT – specifically raising the current $10,000 deduction cap – could cost Republicans the majority. “Yeah, very much so,” one source close to SALT discussions told Fox News Digital when asked if those members were angry at being sidelined. “There have been meetings, we’ve had conversations, and effectively what we’re hearing from the speaker’s office is, we would love to help you, but you know, effectively having SALT in there would kill the bill,” the source said. “But the reality is, is that the guy is most affected by this issue or this tax bill and with this issue out of it are the swing seats.” Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., another lawmaker in SALT discussions, said he disagreed with tanking rule votes but understood the frustration. HOUSE GOP ERUPTS IN DIVISION OVER CALL TO PUSH JOHNSON OUT OF SPEAKERSHIP: ‘WORKING FOR JOE BIDEN’ “As a team, we should be passing rules, letting things come to the floor for a vote,” he said. “But I understand the frustration that the New Yorkers are feeling obviously on this issue.” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., was blunt with his anger despite indicating support for the existing parts of the tax bill. “To not include a SALT fix is idiotic, and it’s political malpractice,” Lawler said. “The failure to include that provision in this tax bill was foolish.” Three sources told Fox News Digital late last week that Johnson intends to bring the bill to the floor this week for a vote under suspension, but so far it has not been noted in the legislative calendar. Johnson did not say whether he intends to bring the bill for a vote this week when asked by Fox News Digital on Tuesday. Fox News’ Tyler Olsen contributed to this report.

Budget 2024: What should middle class expect on Feb 1?

The new government will present the full budget after it assumes office.

Chandigarh Mayoral Polls: AAP urges HC for fresh elections under supervision of retired judge

The Aam Aadmi Party moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking to set aside the mayoral poll results and demanding fresh elections under the supervision of a retired HC judge.

RNC to convene privately, resolution to call Donald Trump the ‘presumptive nominee’ removed

The Republican National Committee is meeting behind closed doors this week as some allies of Donald Trump had hoped to put the group’s stamp on the former president early in the 2024 GOP presidential nominating campaign. But a proposed resolution to declare Trump the presumptive nominee has been removed from the agenda before the committee is scheduled to meet in Las Vegas this week, party officials said. The reversal comes as the first two early-state contests have winnowed the Republican campaign down to two major candidates, with Trump as the heavy favorite and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley vowing to continue her uphill challenge. HALEY’S GRASSROOTS FUNDRAISING SOARS, BUT A TOP-DOLLAR LIBERAL DONOR WANTS TO SEE ‘PATH TO VICTORY’ What was expected to be an uneventful RNC winter meeting in Las Vegas this week briefly gained heightened attention last week after the resolution, introduced by Maryland Committeeman David Bossie, to name Trump the presumptive nominee became public. Bossie was Trump’s deputy campaign manager in 2016 and advised his team when Congress pursued a second impeachment after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Within hours of the resolution’s leak, Trump batted down the proposal, which some members of the committee criticized publicly as premature. “While they have far more votes than necessary to do it, I feel, for the sake of PARTY UNITY, that they should NOT go forward with this plan,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social. There is no formal RNC rule barring the party from declaring a presumptive nominee. And there is precedent for such a move. In 2016, then-RNC Chairman Reince Priebus declared Trump the presumptive nominee after the Indiana primary, though that was in May and Trump had battled Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for three months since Cruz finished first in the leadoff Iowa caucuses ahead of second-place Trump. The Associated Press only uses the term once a candidate has captured the number of delegates needed to win a majority vote at the national party conventions this summer. That point won’t come until after more states have voted. For both Republicans and Democrats, the earliest it could happen is March. Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel suggested last week that Haley had no path to the nomination in light of Trump’s majority vote totals in the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses and the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary. “We need to unite around our eventual nominee, which is going to be Donald Trump, and we need to make sure we beat Joe Biden,” McDaniel said in a Fox News interview the night of the New Hampshire primary. Haley said Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the RNC was “clearly not” an honest broker “if you’re going to go and basically tell the American people that you’re going to go and decide who the nominee is after only two states have voted.” “The American people want to have their say in who is going to be their nominee,” she said. “We need to give them that. I mean, you can’t do that based on just two states.”

Ohio attorney general advocates for nitrogen gas executions in new state bill

Ohio’s Republican attorney general put his weight behind a legislative effort Tuesday that would bring nitrogen gas executions to the state, ending a yearslong unofficial death penalty moratorium. Attorney General Dave Yost made the remarks at a news conference about the bill, sponsored by Republican state Reps. Brian Stewart and Phil Plummer. It follows Alabama’s pioneering use last week of nitrogen hypoxia for an execution. The Ohio bill would give condemned inmates a choice between lethal injection and nitrogen gas but would require nitrogen gas to be used if lethal injection drugs are not available, Stewart said. ALABAMA DEATH ROW INMATE EXECUTED WITH NITROGEN GAS, NATION’S FIRST BY A NEW METHOD IN 42 YEARS Ohio hasn’t executed anyone since 2018. In 2020, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine declared lethal injection “no longer an option,” citing a federal judge’s ruling that the protocol could cause inmates “severe pain and needless suffering.” Stewart criticized DeWine for delaying so many executions over pharmaceutical companies’ unwillingness to see their products used to put people to death. He noted that Florida and the federal government have continued administering lethal injections while Ohio’s unofficial pause has been in place. Yost noted that the federal government had a stockpile of drugs, putting it in a different position than Ohio. Nitrogen gas is widely available commercially, he said, and he has no worries the state would be able to obtain the amount necessary to move to the method. Yost had previously expressed support for the nitrogen gas method, used for the first time in Alabama last week, when convicted murderer Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58, was put to death with nitrogen gas administered through a face mask to deprive him of oxygen. The execution took about 22 minutes from the time between the opening and closing of curtains to the viewing room. Smith seemed to remain conscious for several minutes. For at least two minutes, he appeared to shake and writhe on the gurney, sometimes pulling against the restraints. State officials in Alabama said the process was humane and effective, while critics called it cruel and experimental. “Perhaps nitrogen — widely available and easy to manufacture — can break the impasse of unavailability of drugs for lethal injection,” Yost wrote on X on Friday, the day after Alabama executed Smith. “Death row inmates are in greater danger of dying of old age than their sentence.” Ohio’s last execution was on July 18, 2018, when Robert Van Hook was put to death by lethal injection for killing a man he met in a Cincinnati bar in 1985. His was the 56th execution since 1999. The state has since faced challenges finding the chemicals for lethal injection. Certain lawmakers of both political parties have consistently pushed bills over the years to eliminate the state’s death penalty, including a measure introduced this session. ALABAMA HITMAN’S NITROGEN GAS EXECUTION THURSDAY SPARKS CONTROVERSY: WHAT TO KNOW It’s an option that DeWine — who helped write the state’s current law, enacted in 1981 — has stopped short of supporting. As time has passed, however, the governor has questioned the death penalty’s value because of the long delays that elapse between crime and punishment. He told The Associated Press during a year-end interview last month that he was not prepared to announce whether he would support an outright repeal. “I did make it clear a few years ago that we could not carry out executions in the state of Ohio under the current law,” he said. “There’s been really no movement in the state Legislature to come up with a different way of execution.” He said that would have been “the logical thing,” if support were there for continuing the practice. Ohio has 118 men and one woman on death row, according to the most recent state report.

Despite Lewiston shooting, floods, Maine ‘getting stronger every day,’ Gov. Mills says

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said that despite recent challenges including the deadliest mass shooting in state history and coastal storms that caused millions of dollars in damage, “our state is getting stronger every day.” Mills cited individual income growth, low unemployment and business openings Tuesday in the first part of her State of the State address, which she delivered in writing to state lawmakers. The second part, to be delivered in person to state lawmakers Tuesday evening, was to focus on public safety, violence and extreme weather events. MAINE LOOKS TO MIGRANT SURGE TO REMEDY WORKER SHORTAGE She was delivering her annual address just weeks after powerful storms ravaged coastal communities and three months after an Army reservist killed 18 people and wounded 13 others in Lewiston. In coming weeks, Mills will be delivering a supplemental budget and she urged lawmakers to exercise restraint after several years of budget surpluses as the state bounced back from the pandemic. “I recognize there are many needs across the state, and I know, in the past, we have been able to say yes to a lot of things. However, this year is, and must be, different,” she wrote. “If we do not budget responsibly now, the Legislature will be forced to make painful cuts in the future — just like other states are having to do now.” To that end, she said she proposed setting aside $100 million for the next two-year budget as state income is anticipated to level off after several years of higher-than-expected growth. Nonetheless, she proposed $16 million in emergency housing relief and $10 million for an affordable home program to address a housing crunch; additional child support jobs and a review of child welfare worker classifications with a goal of raising pay; and the hiring of recovery coaches and additional Naloxone distribution to battle an opioid epidemic. She’s also proposing modest spending increases on K-12 education and an overhaul in how the state provides special education services to pre-school aged children.

Illinois Elections Board punts Trump eligibility question, former president to stay on ballot

Illinois’ election board on Tuesday overruled an objection to former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to be on the state’s primary ballot. The unanimous vote by the Illinois State Board of Elections, which is split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, comes after a recommendation that Trump be removed for inciting an insurrection. The board voted 8-0 that it did not have jurisdiction to determine whether Trump is constitutionally ineligible to appear on the ballot, reserving that power for the courts.  The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a similar case from Colorado early next month. That state’s highest court found the 14th Amendment barred the Republican former president from the ballot over his role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the building after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. HAWAII DEMOCRAT INTRODUCES BILL TO BAN TRUMP FROM BALLOT After brief arguments last week, a hearing officer for the Illinois board said it should be up to the courts, rather than election officials, to decide Trump’s eligibility because of the complicated constitutional issues involved. But the opinion from Clark Erickson, a retired judge and a Republican, concluded that a “preponderance of the evidence” presented proved that Trump engaged in insurrection and should be barred from the ballot. Five Illinois voters filed a petition arguing Trump is ineligible to be on the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, a Civil War-era provision that prohibits anyone who took an oath to support the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding office.  Trump’s campaign has repeatedly categorized efforts to block him from the ballot as aiming to disenfranchise American voters. Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, appealed a judge’s ruling on Friday that put on hold her decision to remove Trump from the ballot until the Supreme Court rules on the Colorado case. Bellow, a Democrat, said she also wants to ensure Maine’s highest court has the opportunity to weigh in before ballots are counted in the March 5 primaries.  The timelines are tight as Super Tuesday approaches. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the Colorado case on Feb. 8, which likely means there would not be enough time to meet statutory deadlines for Bellows to reissue a ruling on Trump’s ballot status and for additional appeals to be filed before Election Day. Lawsuits in Minnesota, Michigan, Arizona and Oregon aiming to block Trump from the 2024 ballot have already been dismissed on procedural grounds, Newsweek reported. Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sen. Joe Manchin says wife in ‘stable condition’ following car crash in Alabama

Sen. Joe Manchin says his wife Gayle is in “stable condition” Tuesday following her involvement in a car accident in Alabama.  “On Monday, my wife Gayle and her colleague Guy Land were involved in a car accident on the way from the airport to the hotel in Birmingham, Alabama, for an Appalachian Regional Commission event that was planned for today,” the West Virginia Democrat said in a statement.  “Both were admitted to UAB Hospital and are receiving excellent care,” he continued. “She remains in stable condition but will stay there for a couple of days for precautionary measures.”  Manchin added, “We want to thank the first responders who answered the call and were on-site to provide assistance and support.