Fulton County hearing: Trump case hangs in balance as judge mulls DA disqualification

The defense wants to disqualify DA Fani Willis in Trump's Georgia election case.

ByOlivia Rubin, Will Steakin, Peter Charalambous, Lucien Bruggeman, and Laura Romero
Last Updated: March 5, 2024, 7:10 PM EST

Following three days of testimony plus closing arguments, Scott McAfee, the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's Georgia election interference case, is weighing motions to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, primarily over accusations from Trump co-defendant Michael Roman that she benefited financially from a "personal, romantic relationship" with prosecutor Nathan Wade, who she hired for the case.

Willis and Wade, in a court filing, admitted to the relationship but said it "does not amount to a disqualifying conflict of interest" and that the relationship "has never involved direct or indirect financial benefit to District Attorney Willis."

Top headlines:

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Feb 16, 2024, 2:06 PM EST

Judge rules that witness' texts do not need to be disclosed

Judge Scott McAfee rejected the defense’s insistence that Terrence Bradley be forced to testify about communications he had with Nathan Wade.

“I don’t think the crime fraud exception covers this,” he said, referring to the legal statute defense lawyers were pushing to force Bradley to disclose his conversations with Wade.

“It does not appear that there’s any evidence that the client ever waived [his attorney-client privilege] and allowed that information to be conveyed to you,” he added later, addressing Mike Roman’s lawyer Ashleigh Merchant.

Feb 16, 2024, 1:45 PM EST

Witness says he has 'no knowledge' of when relationship began

After a long back and forth, Terrence Bradley testified that he does not have any personal knowledge of when DA Fani Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade began their romantic relationship.

“Any knowledge of Nathan Wade and Fani Willis's romantic relationship beginning while they were both serving as judges– is any knowledge that you have from your own personal knowledge or something that was told to you in furtherance of legal advice?” asked attorney Ashleigh Merchant.

“I have no personal knowledge of when it actually happened,” Bradley replied.

Feb 16, 2024, 1:42 PM EST

State working to block testimony from Wade associate

The state is forcefully working to block testimony from Nathan Wade's law partner Terrence Bradley regarding text exchanges he had with defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant in September 2023.

The judge is so far allowing the defense to continue with its questioning of the texts.

At one point, Merchant handed her phone to the state to look at the texts after the state claimed they weren't sure if the texts were being presented in full.

"These exchanges are just two lawyers gossiping about information," the state said, while holding Merchant's phone. "And I'm concerned about it coming into the record in this way.”

The state told the court that they object to the defense even asking questions about the texts because if they were read it would be "inflammatory."

Feb 16, 2024, 1:13 PM EST

Wade associate called to the stand after failing to appear earlier

The defense called prosecutor Nathan Wade’s law partner Terrence Bradley to the stand as the hearing resumed Friday afternoon after a recess.

Bradley was called earlier but did not appear in court. Judge McAfee threatened to hold the witness in violation of a subpoena for his failure to appear. His attorney said he was at a doctor’s appointment.

The state is working to invoke privilege over his testimony.

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