Trump co-defendant claims new witness would undercut Willis-Wade relationship timeline

Attorneys for David Shafer, a co-defendant of former President Donald Trump in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's election case, have notified the court that they have found a witness they say could undercut Willis's claims about the timeline of her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.

Willis has come under intense scrutiny for her relationship with Wade, whom she hired to pursue the case against Trump. Co-defendant Mike Roman initially raised the allegations that Willis had benefitted from the relationship, highlighting the sums Wade received for his work from her office. The pair has acknowledged the relationship, but they claim it began in 2022 after Willis hired Wade.

In a notice of proposed testimony, however, Shafer's attorneys have indicated that, should the opportunity arise to present additional evidence in the matter, they would call Cobb County Co-Chief Deputy District Attorney Cindi Lee Yeager as a witness. The filing asks that in that circumstance they should be permitted to subpoena Yeager.

The filing, obtained by Just the News, offers an outline of Yeager's potential testimony, which says that she had spoken with repeatedly with attorney Terence Bradley, Wade's divorce attorney, about Willis and Wade. 

Yeager, the filing indicates, is prepared to testify that the pair met in 2019 and that Wade "had definitively begun a romantic relationship with Ms. Willis during the time that Ms. Willis was running for District Attorney in 2019 through 2020."

After the conclusion of last week's hearings on the matter, Judge Scott McAfee indicated he would rule on whether to disqualify Willis from the case within two weeks. Willis indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants in 2023.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.