District attorney in Georgia Trump case dated prosecutor before hiring him, says witness
A GEORGIA district attorney was in a relationship with a prosecutor before she hired him to investigate Donald Trump, a witness has claimed.
Visibly frustrated, district attorney Fani Willis took the stand yesterday and railed against what she decried as a string of “lies” made by Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Mr Trump’s co-defendant Michael Roman. “I’m not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial,” Ms Willis said.
But the damning testimony by a “good friend” of Ms Willis threatens to derail her case against Mr Trump, amid claims of a conflict of interest stemming from her romantic involvement with lawyer Nathan Wade.
Ms Willis, Fulton County’s district attorney, hired Mr Wade to lead an investigation into whether the former president and 18 co-defendants broke the law as they allegedly attempted to overturn his 2020 presidential loss.
The former couple maintained in court documents and during their separate testimonies that the “clandestine” relationship began after Mr Wade was engaged on the case in November 2021 for a sum of up to $650,000 (£517,000).
However, Robin Bryant-yeartie, describing herself as a friend of Ms Willis of 30 years, told a hearing yesterday that she was in “no doubt” the relationship began soon after they met at a conference in October 2019.
The timing is significant because defence lawyers claim Ms Willis paid Mr Wade large sums for his work and then benefited personally when he bought holidays for the two of them, creating a conflict of interest.
Ms Bryant-yeartie, who met Ms Willis at college, said she had seen the pair kissing and showing “affection” before November 2021 and said she spoke to her about the relationship in 2020.
She said she had not spoken to Ms Willis since she left her job at the district attorney’s office in March 2022.
Ms Willis told the court she and Mr Wade started dating in early 2022. She said it was “offensive” to imply she had slept with her colleague the first day she met him at a conference in 2019.
Ms Willis also recalled going on holidays with Mr Wade in 2022. She said while Mr Wade may have booked their travel arrangements through his travel agent, she would have paid him back.
Earlier in the hearing, Mr Wade said he had had sex with Ms Willis during his separation from his estranged wife.
Ms Willis’s removal would be a huge development in what is seen as one of the most potentially damaging of the four criminal cases against Mr Trump. He has been charged with 13 counts relating to his alleged bid to overturn the election result in Georgia in 2020.
He was recorded in the final days of his administration allegedly asking a top Georgia to “find” the 11,000 votes he needed to win the state, which turned blue in the 2020 election.
Mr Trump, who appeared to have followed the hearing on the US broadcaster MSNBC, wrote on social media: “MSNBC just stated game over for the f ake Fani Willis case in Georgia. Another scam co-ordinated with the Biden White House for purposes of election interference!”
Mr Roman has asked Judge Mcafee to throw out the indictment and to prevent the couple, and their offices, from continuing in the case.