Sparks fly as Republican gets more than he bargained for in hearing on Trump prosecution

A tense exchange erupted at the Georgia State Capitol on Friday as Nathan Wade, the former special prosecutor in the Fulton County election interference case against President Donald Trump, pushed back on Republican claims that the prosecution was coordinating with the Biden White House.

Testifying before a state Senate subcommittee investigating the handling of the case, Wade denied allegations that the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office worked with federal officials in the Biden administration, the Justice Department, or the congressional committee that examined the bloody Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“No one at the White House, the White House Counsel’s Office, the Department of Justice, or the January Sixth Committee directed, asked, coerced, or pressured me to do anything in the case,” Wade said, according to reporting from Atlanta TV station WSB-TV

The hearing grew heated when Wade’s attorney, Georgia’s former Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, sparred with Republican state Sen. Bill Cowsert, who is leading the Senate inquiry. At one point, Barnes challenged Cowsert about the deadly 2021 event during questioning.

“So you’re defending what happened on January 6?” Barnes asked, according to the Atlanta TV station. The GOP senator pushed back.

“I just want to know — are you defending that?” Barnes added, prompting the lawmaker to respond that he was not the one under examination.

Wade faced tough questions Friday over his contact with officials in Washington during Trump’s Georgia prosecution. He said, however, that he could not recall details about meetings during trips to the Capitol, according to media reports.

His legal team dismissed Republican-led conspiracy claims as “absolutely fiction,” arguing investigators routinely communicate with federal officials while gathering evidence, WSB-TV reported.