Fulton County hearing: Trump case hangs in balance as judge mulls DA Willis' disqualification
The defense wants to disqualify DA Fani Willis in Trump's Georgia election case.
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:
- Defense says Willis committed 'unforgivable' misconduct
- Hearing concludes, judge says ruling expected within 2 weeks
- Judge presses DA's office: 'Money has changed hands'
- Bradley says he does 'not have the date' when relationship started
- Trump attorney accuses Nathan Wade of perjury
- Willis says she didn't consider relationship romantic before hiring
Witness 'sure' Wade told him about earlier 'socializing' with Willis
Terrence Bradley testified that he is “sure” prosecutor Nathan Wade told Bradley about “socializing” with DA Fani Willis prior to November 2021.
“Did Mr. Wade ever tell you prior to November 1 of 2021 that he had socialized or gone out to eat with Miss Willis in anything other than a professional setting?” asked Donald Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow.
“I'm sure he did,” Bradley replied.
Before that, Bradley also testified that he couldn't recall if Wade and Willis met privately in Wade's office.
"Did Miss Willis meet privately with Mr. Wade in his office that you observed?" Sadow asked.
"I can't recall," Bradley replied.
Judge says he will review text messages after hearing
Judge McAfee said Friday he would review Terrence Bradley’s text messages with prosecutor Nathan Wade after the hearing.
McAfee indicated the review would happen on-camera but remain sealed unless he’s “ever directed otherwise.”
“In order to preserve the record, at the conclusion of the hearing, I think I can go on camera with Mr. Chopra and Mr. Bradley and we can put in a sealed filing exactly what the extent of those communications were,” he said.
“Those [would] remain sealed until sometime if we’re ever directed otherwise,” the judge said.
Trump attorney accuses Nathan Wade of perjury
Trump attorney Steve Sadow accused prosecutor Nathan Wade of perjury on the witness stand, related to when his relationship began with DA Fani Willis.
"Mr. Wade committed perjury on the witness stand," Sadow said standing in court, continuing his argument for why Terrence Bradley's testimony regarding his texts and knowledge of Wade and Fani Willis' relationship.
Bradley has testified that he did not have personal knowledge of the relationship between Wade and Willis. But the defense is arguing the texts would show otherwise.
"A lawyer shall not knowingly failed to disclose and material fact to a tribunal. When disclosure is necessary to avoid assisting a criminal or fraudulent act," Sadow said.
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.
Co-defendant says 2nd witness can dispute timeline testimony
As Judge Scott McAfee continues to weigh the potential disqualification of DA Fani Willis, one of Trump's co-defendants is now offering a second witness who they say would dispute the testimony of prosecutor Nathan Wade's former attorney, Terrance Bradley, regarding his lack of knowledge of the timing of Wade and Willis' relationship.
Attorneys for defendant Cathy Latham say they spoke to attorney Manny Aurora, who represented former co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro, who later took a plea deal in the election case. Aurora, according to a motion filed Monday, told them he had "several" conversations with Bradley in which Bradley said he had "personal knowledge" regarding the timeline of Willis' relationship with Wade, which Willis and Wade testified did not begin until after Willis hired Wade to work on the election case in November 2021.
According to the motion, Bradley allegedly told Aurora during their discussions that Wade and Willis had "definitely" begun a romantic relational in 2019.
"Mr. Bradley stated he had personal knowledge of the relationship between Mr. Wade and district Attorney Willis, including details regarding the use of Ms. Robin Yeartie's apartment such as Mr. Wade's having a garage opener to the property," the filing claims.