Hearing on Willis relationship with special prosecutor in Trump GA case concludes with DA testimony

Testimony from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis concluded a hearing on Thursday regarding her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade and the resulting potential conflicts of interest in the case against former President Donald Trump.

Wade testified on Thursday regarding his romantic relationship with Willis, contradicting earlier testimony from a longtime friend of Willis that the pair was together before he was engaged in the Trump case. Willis agreed to take the stand as attorneys for co-defendants in the Trump case argued that they needed her to clarify discrepancies in Wade's testimony.

Willis last year indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants over his efforts to challenge the 2020 election results in Georgia. She had hired Wade as a special prosecutor to pursue the case. Co-defendant Mike Roman and his attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, first raised the allegations in January, claiming the pair "engaged in an improper, clandestine personal relationship" and have profited from the case. Wade has been paid roughly $654,000 in legal fees from January 2022 through December 2023, he claimed.

Willis and Wade have admitted to a "personal relationship," though they claim it began after she hired him and that there exists no conflict of interest in the case. Contrarily, defense attorneys for Roman insist the relationship preceded Wade's hiring.

However, according to testimony from Willis' longtime friend Robin Yeartie on Thursday, Wade and Willis began their romantic relationship in late 2019.

Wade testified that because his marriage was irretrievably broken in 2015, he was allowed to be in a romantic relationship with anyone after that, despite not filing for divorce until 2021. He also said that he didn't start a romantic relationship with Willis until 2022, after he began working with Willis' office in 2021.

Later, Wade testified that he had a romantic relationship with Willis before the indictment of Trump and the co-defendants in the Fulton County case. He also said that his relationship with Willis ended last summer.

When Willis took the stand, she accused Merchant of lying about the evidence she had for the hearing and said that her interests were "contrary to democracy."

Court abruptly recessed for five minutes after Willis had testified for some time and she accused Merchant again of lying regarding her relationship with Wade, holding up documents and saying, "It is a lie!"

Willis raised her voice at Merchant again, with the judge warning her to listen to the questions as they were asked and that he would have to strike her testimony if she didn't.

During her testimony, Willis said she didn't tell anyone on the prosecution team about her romantic relationship with Wade because she keeps her private life private. She also said that Yeartie didn't live with her when she lived in a condo that Yeartie was leasing and that Wade never stayed over at the condo. However, she said Wade came to the condo a few times.

Later, Willis was asked if she had taken any trips to Washington, D.C., with Wade and she said she hadn't. Willis also said that she didn't go to the White House when she went to D.C. on her own trips.

In court filings from Wade's divorce proceedings, invoices he submitted to the DA's office show that he asked for reimbursement on at least one occasion for a meeting with President Biden’s White House counsel, Just the News previously reported. The entry indicates that Wade traveled to Athens, Georgia, for the May 23, 2022, meeting.

The invoices also show that on November 18, 2022, Wade expensed travel to Washington, D.C., for an “Interview with DC/White House," just two days after Trump announced he was running for president in the 2024 GOP primary.

The hearing began on Thursday with Wade's attorney objecting to a witness that Merchant was planning on bringing to the stand to testify to the relationship between Wade and Willis. Wade's lawyer said that the hearing should be over sanctioning Merchant for misrepresenting what her witness, Terrance Bradley, would be able to testify to. Merchant said that she had another witness she would like to start with and would bring Bradley to the stand later. 

Merchant called Yeartie to the witness stand. Yeartie testified that she was a longtime friend of Willis, leased her condo to her, and worked for her in the district attorney's office. Their friendship ended after Yeartie resigned from the district attorney's office in 2022, Yeartie said during testimony.

Yeartie also testified that Willis and Wade began their romantic relationship in late 2019.

Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the hearing, on Monday suggested that Willis could be removed from the case, telling the court that the allegations against her "could result in a disqualification."

In the Monday hearing, Roman's attorney indicated that Bradley would testify that Wade and Willis's relationship began before she hired him, The Hill reported.

Late last month, Wade abruptly settled his divorce dispute with his estranged wife Jocelyn Mayfield Wade ahead of a planned hearing in which he was expected to discuss his finances and travel with Willis. Court filings in the divorce case revealed that Wade bought tickets for at least two out-of-state trips with Willis. Of those, one was a 2022 trip to Miami, Fla., and a 2023 trip to San Francisco, Calif.

Willis steadfastly denies having received any benefit from her relationship with Wade.

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