Wade’s ex-law partner says he’s unsure when DA’s romance started
ATLANTA — A former law partner of Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade was evasive on the witness stand Tuesday as lawyers pressed him on details about a romantic relationship between Wade and District Attorney Fani Willis that has roiled the 2020 Georgia election case against former President Donald Trump.
Terrence Bradley, Wade’s onetime divorce attorney, was believed to be a key witness for lawyers seeking to remove Willis from the case. But when they questioned him, Bradley repeatedly said he did not know or could not remember when Willis and Wade’s relationship began.
When attorneys confronted Bradley about a text message in which he said the relationship started when Willis was working as a judge, Bradley told the court he had only been “speculating.”
Defense lawyers appeared to grow increasingly frustrated with his lack of answers, with Trump’s lawyer at one point essentially accusing Bradley of lying on the witness stand.
“You do in fact know when it started. You don’t want to testify to that in court, that’s the best explanation, isn’t it?” Trump attorney Steve Sadow asked.
Bradley’s testimony was believed to be potentially crucial as defense attorneys sought to undercut Willis and Wade’s claims about when their romantic relationship began. That timeline has become a central issue as defense attorneys push to have Willis and Wade disqualified from the case, arguing that their relationship created a conflict of interest.
Willis and Wade have testified under oath that they didn’t begin dating until after he was hired as special prosecutor in November 2021.
Judge Scott McAfee has set arguments for Friday on whether Willis and her office should be removed from the case. Willis’ removal would be a stunning development in the most sprawling of the four criminal cases against Trump. If she were disqualified, a nonpartisan council that supports prosecuting attorneys in Georgia would need to find a new attorney to take over. That successor could either proceed with the charges against Trump and 14 others or drop the case altogether.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Four people have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the remaining 14 have pleaded not guilty.
Embryo ruling: Alabama lawmakers are looking for ways to protect in vitro fertilization services in the state as patients, who had procedures canceled in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling, remained stalled in their hopes of parenthood.
The ruling, which raised questions about what liability fertility clinics could face, had an immediate chilling effect on the availability of IVF in the state. Three providers announced a pause on services in the days after the decision.
Alabama legislators are working on proposals to try to remove the uncertainties for clinics. The bills are expected to be debated this week.
Japan birth rate: The number of babies born in
Japan last year fell for an eighth consecutive year to a new low, government data showed Tuesday.
The 758,631 babies born in Japan in 2023 were a 5.1% decline from the previous year, according to the Health and Welfare Ministry. It was the lowest number of births since Japan started compiling the statistics in 1899.
The number of marriages fell by 5.9% to 489,281 couples, going below a half-million for the first time in 90 years — one of the key reasons for the declining births.
US hunger pledge: Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, announced $1.7 billion in new commitments at the White House on Tuesday alongside chef Jose Andres and WNBA player Elena Delle Donne, administration officials and members of Congress.
Andres and Delle Donne chair the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, an advisory body
that promotes healthy eating and exercise.
The Globetrotters and Kaboom!, which builds playgrounds in underserved communities, will host events across the country to raise awareness about the importance of good nutrition, the White House said.
The new pledges come on top of $8 billion in commitments announced in September 2022 at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. At the conference, President Joe Biden announced he had set a goal to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases by 2030 while reducing health disparities.
Eagle deaths: A Washington state man accused of helping kill more than 3,000 birds, including eagles on a Montana Indian reservation, then illegally selling their feathers intends to plead guilty to illegal wildlife trafficking and other criminal charges, court documents show.
Federal prosecutors say Travis John Branson and others killed about 3,600 birds during a yearslong “killing spree” on the Flathead Indian Reservation and elsewhere. Feathers from eagles and other birds are prized among many Native American tribes for use in sacred ceremonies and during pow-wows.
Branson, of Cusick, Washington, will plead guilty under an agreement with prosecutors to reduced charges, including conspiracy, wildlife trafficking and two counts of unlawful trafficking of eagles.
A second suspect, Simon Paul, of St. Ignatius, Montana, remains at large after an arrest warrant was issued when he failed to show up for an initial court appearance in early January.
Red Army Faction: A former member of the disbanded left-wing militant Red Army Faction group who is accused of participating in a string of robberies has been arrested after more than 30
years on the run, German authorities said Tuesday.
Daniela Klette, 65, was arrested Monday at an apartment in Berlin.
Klette, who had a foreign passport under a different name, put up no resistance, the head of Lower Saxony state’s criminal police office, Friedo de Vries, told reporters.
Klette is one of three former Red Army Faction members sought by police for years. She, ErnstVolker Staub and Burkhard Garweg have been linked to 12 robberies in northern Germany between 1999 and 2016, as well as attempted murder.
The Red Army Faction emerged from German student protests against the Vietnam War. The group launched a violent campaign against what members considered U.S. imperialism and capitalist oppression of workers.
The organization killed 34 people and injured hundreds. It declared itself disbanded in 1998.