Fani Willis testifies, judge weighs whether to disqualify her from Trump GA trial

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday slammed Donald Trump’s defense attorneys who began testifying before a judge who is considering whether to disqualify him from indicting him on election interference charges.

“It’s ridiculous to me that you lied on Monday and we’re still here,” Willis told attorney Ashley Merchant from the witness stand in Fulton County Superior Court.

Judge Scott McAfee twice warned Willis that if she continued to interrupt her questioners, he would have to recant her testimony.

The prosecutor’s extremely tense testimony came several hours into the hearing, which focused on allegations that Willis had personally benefited from a romantic relationship with attorney Nathan Wade, one of the top criminal prosecutors. It was done later.

Willis and Wade deny their relationship began before November 2021, when Wade was sworn in as special counsel. However, before Willis took the stand, witnesses claimed that the relationship began several years before Wade joined the lawsuit.

This timeline is key to the debate over whether the prosecutor’s relationship presents a conflict of interest that warrants disqualification from the criminal case.

Willis eagerly took the witness stand mid-afternoon and quickly accused Merchant of lying in court.

“Today, it seems like lawyers can write lies and have them published for all the world to see,” Willis said.

She also criticized Robin Yearty, a former employee of the DA’s office and a self-described “good friend” of Mr. Willis. He testified early Thursday that his relationship with prosecutors began in late 2019.

“I don’t consider her a friend now,” Willis said of Yearty. “I think she betrayed our friendship.”

Ierty appeared in court via Zoom and said he had “no doubts” about the timeline.

But Wade took the stand after Yearty and testified that his romantic relationship with Willis began in 2022.

Willis also testified that she began seeing Wade in early 2022.

Wade said he had a pleasant chat with Willis for about three minutes at a judicial conference in 2019. He said he spoke with her two or three more times that year, noting that she felt comfortable asking him about legal issues such as the racial composition of her particular bench.

The two started talking more often in 2020, but it was “not a daily thing,” Wade testified. They reportedly spoke more frequently in 2021.

Wade also testified that he had no recollection of traveling with Willis before 2021. When asked about subsequent trips they took together, Wade said Willis compensated her for part of the trip in cash.

Prosecutors said he never discussed his personal relationships in a social setting. “We are private citizens,” Wade said. “Our relationship was not a secret, just private.”

He added that his relationship with Willis ended around June 2023, but they remained close.

Willis accused Trump and 18 others of trying to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia’s 2020 election. President Trump has pleaded not guilty to 13 criminal charges in the case.Many of Trump’s co-defendants are already on strike. plea bargain together with the prosecutor.

Trump did not attend the hearing in Fulton County Superior Court. Instead, he attended a separate hearing in New York City in a hush-money criminal case brought by the Manhattan district attorney.

McAfee on Monday denied Willis’ efforts to cancel the evidentiary hearing, saying he believed “the facts asserted by the defendant could lead to disqualification.”

The remarks were made during a hearing on Willis’ motion to vacate defendant Michael Roman’s motion to dismiss the charges and disqualify Willis, initially citing alleged personal and financial differences. uttered.

Roman’s court filing cited Wade’s divorce proceedings, which were sealed at the time, and showed Wade and Willis traveling together to “vacation destinations” and buying cruise tickets. said that it had been shown.

Willis called Roman’s claims “factually inaccurate, unsubstantiated and malicious.”

Trump’s lawyers joined Roman’s motion in late January. The former president then claimed that Willis’ relationship with Wade made the Georgia lawsuit “totally discredited.”

Although the district attorney acknowledged Roman’s relationship with Wade in a court filing in early February, it disputed several allegations raised by Roman’s attorneys.

She denied that their relationship began before Wade became special prosecutor in the case. She also denied that this relationship affected their “exercise of prosecutorial discretion.”

In an affidavit included in Willis’ filing, Mr. Wade added that he had “no financial interest” in the outcome of the case, adding that he had “no financial interest in the outcome of the case” and that he had “no financial interest in the outcome of any funds paid to me for my role as special counsel.” “has never been shared with or provided to Mr. Willis.” This is District Attorney Willis. ”

Mr. Willis “received no funds or personal financial benefit from my position as special counsel,” he wrote.

Thursday’s morning hearing session was repeatedly derailed by objections from state attorneys and numerous disputes over whether some witness testimony was protected by attorney-client privilege.

Wade’s divorce attorney, Terrence Bradley, was the first witness called to the stand, but was dismissed after answering only a few questions amid a dispute over privilege.

Yearty then testified that she witnessed Willis and Wade being “affectionate” before November 2021.

In cross-examination, Ierty said he had once been overwritten because of poor performance at his job at the prosecutor’s office and that he resigned under the assumption that he would have been fired otherwise.

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