‘It is a lie!’ | Fulton DA Fani Willis testifies at her disqualification hearing

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis delivered a fiery, often combative and contentious testimony on Thursday, as defense attorneys for former President Donald Trump and others alleged she and her special prosecutor should be disqualified from their indictment because of their romantic relationship.

Willis is the locally elected district attorney who issued dozens of indictments in August 2023 accusing Trump and his allies of trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. On Thursday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee began a hearing to decide whether Willis and Nathan Wade should be disqualified.

The two itted to having a relationship, but the timeline remains in question.

“It wasn’t secret, just private,” Wade testified.

Willis said in a written statement on Feb. 2 that she and Wade began their relationship after Wade’s November 2021 hiring date.

However, a former friend and employee of Willis, Robin Bryant-Yeartie, testified otherwise. She alleged seeing them “kissing, hugging” as early as 2019.

Willis denied she and Wade lived together, but the two itted to taking trips together to Aruba, Belize and California.

As district attorney, Willis has to disclose gifts of more than $100. She said she did not benefit financially from these trips, saying while Wade paid with card, she paid her way in cash.

“Mr. Wade was paid that money back, or he was paid to the fact that I bought the plane ticket, or I paid for the hotel,” Willis said. “There was never money that he gave me.”

At times, things got heated.

“You think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I’m not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial,” Willis told Ashleigh Merchant, the lawyer representing one of Trump’s co-defendants.

Trump reacted to Thursday’s hearing on his social media platform Truth Social, saying: “FANI NEVER PAID CASH. SHE GOT FREE TRIPS AND OTHER THINGS FROM HER LOVER, WITH THE EXORBITANT AMOUNTS OF MONEY SHE AUTHORIZED TO BE PAID TO HIM. A GIANT SCAM. WITCH HUNT!!!

Below is Atlanta News First’s live blog of Thursday’s hearing.

Full hearing, day 1:

Live updates from Fani Willis’ hearing:

5:13 p.m. | McAfee recesses for the day and says the hearing will resume at 9 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. He also says he will not issue any sort of ruling on Friday.

5:06 p.m. | Willis says she has always kept cash in her house, ranging from $500 to $9,000.

5:00 p.m. | Willis says she never took any gifts from Wade and thus never recorded them on any Fulton County document in 2022.

4:39 p.m. | “A man is not a plan,” Willis says about her relationship discussions with Wade. “A man is a companion.”

4:30 p.m. | Sadow questions Willis why she didn’t inform anyone on her team that she was having a romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor.

4:22 p.m. | Willis acknowledges Wade visited her at the condo belonging to her friend, Bryant-Yeartie. She does not how often he visited “during this lonely time.”

4:19 p.m. | McAfee gives Willis a second warning to answer questions within their context.

4:14 p.m. | Sadow begins questioning Willis.

4:11 p.m. | Willis says she never disclosed her relationship with anyone on the Fulton County Board of Commissioners or with the county itself. She adds she is not aware she is required to disclose any relationships to Fulton County officials.

3:58 p.m. | McAfee warns Willis he will strike her testimony if she doesn’t answer Merchant’s questions.

3:56 p.m. | Willis says Wade never came to her home in South Fulton in 2019. “It is a lie that he lived with me,” she says.

3:54 p.m. | McAfee resumes the hearing, urging everyone to remain professional and not talk over each other.

3:48 p.m. | Court in recess after Willis exclaims, “It is a lie!”

3:45 p.m. | When did Willis’ romantic relationship with Wade end? “Mr. Wade is my friend right now. He has been a friend since 2020. It started out as a mentor and a professional colleague. I feel indebted to Mr. Wade for taking on this job. I consider myself right now to have a personal relationship with Mr. Wade ... I would say we had a tough conversation in August 2023,” Willis says.

3:43 p.m. | Willis: “You’re trying to put me on trial. I’m not on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election.”

3:42 p.m. | Willis says her security team has never taken her or Wade anywhere together.

3:30 p.m. | Calling Wade “a world traveler,” Willis says she never asked for any receipts from Wade regarding their cruises but repaid him for any expenses in cash.

3:16 p.m. | Willis says Bryant-Yeartie has betrayed their friendship.

3:12 p.m. | Willis says she takes exception to accusations she slept with Wade the night she met him.

3:07 p.m. | Willis is sworn in. “I’ve been very much looking forward to this conversation,” she said. She accuses Merchant of being dishonest with the court.

2:55 p.m. | Court is taking a break.

2:54 p.m. | Willis takes the stand.

2:46 p.m. | Willis is called to the stand by Merchant. McAfee is hearing arguments for and objections to Willis’ testimony.

2:45 p.m. | Wade is excused from the stand.

2:14 p.m. | Wade says he believes all of the attorneys in Trump’s election interference trial have been colluding with his ex-wife’s divorce attorney.

1:59 p.m. | Sadow questions why Wade filed for divorce one day after he was hired by Willis.

1:51 p.m. | Wade says he did not tell anyone in the DA’s office he was in a romantic relationship with Willis.

1:48 p.m. | When asked by Sadow when his personal relationship with Willis ended, Wade says June 2023.

1:27 p.m. | Wade and prosecutors continue sparring over how Wade was repaid by Willis during their various trips together.

1:11 p.m. | Wade denies he had sexual relations with anyone outside of his marriage during his marriage. When asked if he’d had sexual relations with Willis as of May 30, 2023, Wade replies, “Yes.”

1:08 p.m. | Hearing resumes after recess.

12:15 p.m. | Wade says he and Willis are “private people” and never discussed their relationship with others in social settings.

12:02 p.m. | Wade says he, his mother and Willis went on a cruise together. He then says he and Willis traveled to Aruba together.

11:48 a.m. | Wade its he has taken trips to Belize and California with Willis. He says he used his credit card to book the travel arrangements, and that the trip to Belize was a birthday gift to him.

11:44 a.m. | Wade says he has never used someone else’s credit card to pay for any expenses of any kind. He said he has paid for any vacations he has taken with Willis.

11:32 a.m. | Wade says he only has one receipt showing Willis paid for anything in his regard.

11:20 a.m. | Wade its he has “spent the night together” but Willis but has not “co-habituated” with her. Wade says his romantic relationship with Willis began “around March 2022″ and that they met at a conference in 2021.

11:10 a.m. | Wade says he traveled with Willis in 2022 and 2023 but doesn’t recall traveling with her in 2021. He again reiterated he has no receipts.

11:02 a.m. | Under questioning from Merchant, Wade says in May 2023, he submitted an expense report showing he has no receipts of “entertaining the opposite sex.”

10:55 a.m. | Wade is sworn in.

10:53 a.m. | McAfee denies motion from the state to quash Wade’s subpoena.

10:44 a.m. | Under questioning from Fulton County attorney Anna Cross, Bryant-Yeartie its she was “written up once” for poor performance.

10:41 a.m. | Under questioning from Sadow, Bryant-Yeartie says she saw Wade and Willis “hugging and kissing” before Nov. 1, 2021.

10:39 a.m. | Bryant-Yeartie has “no doubt” Willis and Wade were romantically involved from 2019 to 2022, she says.

10:35 a.m. | Bryant-Yeartie says Willis and Wade’s relationship began after the conference where they met, possibly in October or November 2019. She said their romantic relationship continued through the last time they spoke together.

10:34 a.m. | Merchant says she plans to call Willis to the stand.

10:31 a.m. | Bryant-Yeartie says Willis moved into her condo in April 2021. Bryant-Yeartie said Willis told her she met Wade met at a conference.

10:29 a.m. | Bradley is temporarily dismissed and is subject to recall, now that Bryant-Yeartie has ed the Zoom call. Bryant-Yeartie said she met Willis in college in 1990 or 1991. She last spoke with Willis in March 2022.

10:11 a.m. | Merchant asks Bradley if he knows when Willis and Wade began their romantic relationship. That question leads to repeated objections from Fulton County prosecutors. Bradley is not willing to share anything Wade has shared with him.

10:09 a.m. | Bradley says he doesn’t recall the specific dates when Willis and Wade met.

10:05 a.m. | Bradley says he met Wade in 1988 and eventually started a firm together. He does not when they actually incorporated. Bradley left their firm in August 2022.

10 a.m. | Bradley is welcomed to the hearing by Merchant; Bradley replies he is not happy to be here but has no choice.

9:55 a.m. | Terrence Bradley, a former law partner of Nathan Wade and arguably the prosecution’s top witness in the case, is called to testify. Bradley, according to Trump co-defendant Michael Roman and his attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, will testify Willis and Wade had a personal relationship before Willis hired Wade, which Willis denies.

9:53 a.m. | A New York judge denies Trump’s request to dismiss criminal charges related to a “hush money” payment and said his trial would proceed as scheduled on March 25, delivering a blow to Trump’s efforts to delay what would be the first trial of any former president in U.S. history.

9:45 a.m. | Robin Bryant-Yeartie, a former friend of Willis, is called as the defense’s first witness, but she is not present. Neither Willis nor Wade appear to be in attendance as the hearing begins. First up will be considerations as to whether their staff will be disqualified from the investigation.

9:30 a.m. | McAfee calls the hearing to order. Trump’s lead Georgia attorney, Steve Sadow, is in attendance. Trump himself, despite earlier media reports, will not be in Atlanta today, as he is attending another court hearing in New York City.

FANI WILLIS CONTROVERSY | HOW WE GOT HERE

For several years, Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis has made international headlines in her unrelenting investigation and subsequent indictment of former President Donald Trump.

But since January, Willis has been making news around the world for her now-acknowledged personal relationship she has with a special prosecutor she hired to assist in her prosecution of the nation’s 45th president. On Thursday, Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade may learn if they’ll be allowed to continue their indictment of the man who will likely be the Republican nominee for president this year.

McAfee is hearing evidence from prosecutors and defense attorneys to determine if Wade benefitted personally and financially from the couple’s arrangement.

Willis is the locally elected district attorney who issued dozens of indictments in August 2023 accusing Trump and his allies of trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.

But in early January, an explosive court filing by Michael Roman, one of Trump’s co-defendants, and his attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, accused Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade of having a romantic relationship.

Roman is a former White House aide who served as the director of Trump’s election day operations. Prosecutors allege Roman was involved in efforts to put forth a set of fake electors after the 2020 election, a charge to which Roman has pleaded not guilty.

Roman’s court filing claims Willis and Wade took lavish vacations together and that Wade used part of his salary from the district attorney’s office to travel with Willis. Merchant also claims to have discovered “outside of court filings” that Willis and Wade went on trips together.

On Friday, Roman filed another stunning court document, claiming Bradley will testify Willis and Wade had a personal relationship before Willis hired Wade.

“Willis and Wade claim they did not have a personal, romantic relationship before Willis appointed Wade as a special prosecutor, but Terrence Bradley (”Bradley”) will refute that claim,” Roman’s court filing said. “Bradley is an attorney and a member of the Georgia Bar. Bradley and Wade were friends and business associates. Bradley has non-privileged, personal knowledge that the romantic relationship between Wade and Willis began prior to Willis being sworn as the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia in January 2021.”

Earlier this week, McAfee ruled Terrence Bradley will be allowed to testify on Thursday. But whether Willis and Wade will testify themselves on Thursday or at some later date is still undecided.

McAfee wants to hear testimony from other subpoenaed of Willis and Wade’s innermost circles — friends, family and of their press and security teams — before deciding if their direct testimony is relevant or necessary.

Around a dozen people linked to Willis and Wade received subpoenas from defense attorneys, intending to find out more about the romantic relationship the two shared — including when it began and whether the two benefited from Wade’s large contract with the district attorney’s office.

Even Willis’ father and a friend who rented her a home were subpoenaed to create a clearer picture of the relationship that some indictment defendants say is a conflict of interest and grounds for removing the DA from the case altogether.

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