(Attorneys grilled the paramour of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for several hours Thursday over the couple’s relationship and when it started as defense attorneys worked to get Willis thrown off the prosecution of Donald Trump’s election interference case.
Special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s testimony followed earlier testimony by Robin Bryant–Yeartie, Wade’s college friend and a former Fulton County District Attorney’s Office employee, who said that Willis began a romantic relationship with Wade in 2019, shortly after they met at a judicial conference.
Bryant–Yeartie testified that she had a falling out with Willis when she resigned from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
In his subsequent testimony, however, Wade said the relationship with Willis started in March 2022, after he had been hired in November 2021.
The questioning was intense and often interrupted by objections from attorneys representing several different parties.
Sometimes Wade answered questions; other times he scampered around them, especially questions about whether he lied under oath during his divorce from his former wife about his relationship with Willis.
Wade said that Willis reimbursed him in cash for trips they took, except for a trip to Belize for his birthday, which Willis covered as a gift.
He said he only had one receipt from those trips and that he didn’t deposit the cash Willis gave him as reimbursement. He said he used his business card for such purchases and then had his accountant determine which were business and which were personal.
Attorney Craig Gillen, who represents one of Trump’s co-defendants in the case, asked Wade questions about the cash payments and his relationship with Willis.
“You don’t have a single solitary deposit slip to corroborate?” Gillen asked.
Wade said he did not.
The hearing Thursday comes as Judge Scott McAfee looks to determine if Willis should be removed from the politically charged case.
Several prominent pundits weighed in that Wade’s testimony likely sealed the deal.
“This is getting ugly and it’s getting messy.”
Former federal prosecutor Chuck Rosenberg speaks at recess in the Fulton County D.A. misconduct hearing. Rosenberg adds, “It might be appropriate for Ms. Willis to consider removing herself from this case now.” pic.twitter.com/AHOqcxvv4D
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 15, 2024
Watching this Fani Willis/Nathan Wade hearing and they are toast. TOAST.
1. Her former close friend testified that their romantic relationship began well prior to when Fani hired him. By years! (Which means they lied to the court.)
2. Wade claimed Fani reimbursed him for all…— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) February 15, 2024
Willis, who has been rebuked previously for ethical transgressions, campaigned on the platform of indicting the then-sitting Republican president.
However, the actual basis for the charges did not come until a day after she took office, in a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, as he sought to challenge the highly dubious 2020 election results in Fulton County and elsewhere.
In August 2023, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former state Republican Party Chair David Shafer, on allegations of a racketeering conspiracy related to the unsuccessful election challenges.
Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Willis was discovered to have colluded with Vice President Kamala Harris and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the former chair of the partisan Jan. 6 committee, prior to filing her charges, and she has resisted several requests to provide information to House Republicans over the role federal funding and resources contributed to her probe.
However, a bombshell legal filing from Ashley Merchant, the lawyer representing defendant Michael Roman, exposed Willis’s adultery with Wade, a subordinate attorney whom she allegedly hired for the case despite his lack of qualifications and then went with on lavish trips after overbilling for his services.
Willis was expected to take the stand this afternoon.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
