House Republicans say they can't find Nathan Wade amid the Fani Willis investigation

The House Judiciary Committee has been unable to locate former Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade since issuing a subpoena on Friday, committee spokesman Russell Dye said Newsweek on Wednesday evening.

The committee is seeking to subpoena Wade for testimony that will likely include questions about his past personal relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Willis accused former President Donald Trump of allegedly trying to interfere in the 2020 election results in Georgia, a swing state that narrowly supported President Joe Biden.

The lead prosecutor in the case, which is investigating Trump's appeal to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to swing the election in his favor and an alleged conspiracy to submit a false list of voters to the Electoral College, was Wade, who was the Has now left the role. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and claims it is a political witch hunt.

“The committee issued the subpoena on Friday, attempted to serve the subpoena on Nathan Wade's attorney, who declined, and then the committee attempted to serve the subpoena by email through Nathan Wade himself, but never received a response. The result was that the committee had to use the subpoena “They have to rely on the help of the U.S. Marshals, who have also been unsuccessful in finding Nathan Wade,” Dye said Newsweek by phone Wednesday evening.

The spokesman for the committee also announced this The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Republican-led committee “has served over 100 subpoenas in this Congress. We have done this largely without controversy or the need to deploy the U.S. Marshals.” He added: “Nathan Wade's evasion of service is extremely unusual and requires the committee to spend U.S. taxpayer dollars to locate him.”

Newsweek reached out to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office via email Wednesday afternoon seeking comment.

Andrew Evans, Wade's attorney, and Dye have different views on what transpired in recent months as the committee tried to get Wade to testify. Evans told Newsweek In a telephone interview Wednesday, he said his client had previously “voluntarily agreed to travel to Washington, D.C., and the Republicans canceled that.”

Evans said the agreed date was July 11, the same day Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records. He suggested that the date be postponed for political reasons to be closer to the election.

Dye told Newsweek on Wednesday evening that the committee “offered July 11 and the Wade camp did not accept that date,” adding that anything to suggest the committee “cancelled anything in July is false.” Dye said their communication was facilitated via email.

The letter from House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan accompanying the subpoena said Evans postponed and then canceled Wade's voluntarily transcribed interview, which was scheduled for Sept. 18. Evans confirmed this Newsweek This happened because of the concerns of former Gov. Roy Barnes, who represents Willis.

Evans said it too Newsweek that the committee had previously sent Wade “a written, rather than compulsory, request for production of six categories of documents.”

“We presented everything we have,” Evans said, such as bills that fell into two categories and “objected to the others.” He noted that the committee “did not say anything about the persons complained of.” [categories]which shows how hollow the whole thing is.”

Asked if and why the committee did not object to the missing categories, Dye said: “This is exactly why we need Nathan Wade to testify under oath before the committee. It's one thing to say that, it's another thing to say that under oath.” Under oath and under penalty of perjury, we would love it if he came in and told us that.

The attorney reiterated that “Wade is not part of the district attorney's office, he no longer has access to the office and to the information.” He asked what the committee was trying to get out of Wade, saying, “It's unclear what else happened.” [Wade] could add.

On Thursday, the committee likely won't be able to hold a hearing without Wade. Evans said: “There is no precedent for an empty-seat hearing for someone who has no knowledge whatsoever of the testimony,” adding: “That's political theater. That's improvisation – playing with the rules.”

The House Republican justice posted on X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday afternoon: “Where's Nathan Wade?” and Jordan posted that Atlanta Journal Constitution Article about X with the same headline. Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has called for Willis' arrest after she failed to comply with a subpoena in the Georgia Senate.

Update 9/25/24, 9:05 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include commentary from Dye.

Update 9/25/25, 5:30 PM ET: This article has been updated to include additional information and comments from Evans.