Combative DA snaps at questioner, says ‘Don’t be cute with me!’ THE FURY OF FEISTY FANI
District Attorney Fani Willis was under pressure in court Thursday over her relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade, prompting explosive outbursts of “Don’t be cute with me” and “It’s a lie!” — the latter of which temporarily brought proceedings to a halt.
The embattled Fulton County, Ga., district attorney and her exlover were scrutinized over the timeline and nature of their relationship in the high-stakes hearing which will decide if she is fit to continue in her prosecution of election fraud charges against Donald Trump and others.
Willis had a number of run-ins during blistering questioning by lawyer Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Trump co-defendant Mike Roman, about whether Wade had ever slept over at an apartment that Willis subleased from a friend.
“It’s a lie! It’s a lie!” Willis screamed, prompting Judge Scott McAfee to immediately call a fiveminute break.
After the break McAfee warned Willis: “You have to listen to the question as asked and if this happens again and again I’m going to have no choice but to strike the testimony.”
During another heated exchange when Merchant questioned about how she split bills with Wade, Willis shot back: “That was cute, but I didn’t give him money in a contract . . . don’t be cute with me and think you’re not gonna get an answer.”
‘You lied & here we are’
Willis has testified that her relationship with Wade, whom she hired as special prosecutor on the case, started in 2022 and ended in 2023. Roman has argued in court papers their relationship started earlier and is unethical, and has asked for Willis to be removed from prosecuting his case.
After weighing the evidence heard Thursday and Friday, Judge McAfee will make a decision.
Willis, wearing a red dress, first unexpectedly appeared in the Fulton County courtroom in Atlanta around 2 p.m. after Wade had finished testifying.
She interjected — as a lawyer from her office was fighting to keep the top prosecutor off the stand — to say she wanted to testify.
Willis then said she had been eagerly waiting to be able to give her side of the story.
“I’ve been in my office pacing,” Willis said, adding that she came running to the courtroom to say her piece when she heard Wade was done.
Willis wasted no time in attacking Merchant for allegedly lying in court papers and at a hearing about the nature of the relationship.
“You lied on Monday and yet here we are,” she said to Merchant. Given “how dishonest you were with the court on Monday, I’m actually surprised the hearing continued. But since it did, here I am.”
Willis told Merchant she was “extremely offended” by the implication that Willis slept with Wade after her first time meeting him at
a conference in October 2019.
Earlier in proceedings, witness Robin Yeartie — a former employee in the DA’s office, who claimed to be a long-time friend of Willis’ — said she had “no doubt” that Willis and Wade were already romantically involved in 2019.
She testified that she had seen Willis and Wade “kissing” and “hugging” and saw them generally being affectionate toward each other.
Anna Cross, a prosecutor in Willis’ office, questioned Yeartie about the fact she would have been fired if she didn’t resign, implying that Yeartie had an axe to grind against Willis.
Although Willis maintained she was “not a hostile witness,” she continued to trade barbs with the defense lawyers who pelted her with questions for the next three hours.
At one point, when Merchant asked about flight records for Wade and Willis’ trips together, Willis snapped back: “You’ve been intrusive into people’s personal lives.
“You’re confused, you think I’m on trial,” Willis said. “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.” Trump, 77, faces trial alongside 14 remaining defendants in the case for allegedly meddling in the 2020 presidential election. A handful of defendants have aldeals ready taken plea while most of the rest have joined Roman’s motion to have Willis thrown off the case and the charges dropped. Wade and Willis both testified Thursday they didn’t become rountil mantically involved March 2022 — long after Wade was apTrump pointed to the probe. But Merchant and Roman seek to prove the pair lied in court about when their tryst began — claiming it started before Wade’s appointment and influWillis’ enced decito sion put him in the prestigious position of special prosecutor, and that she then reaped financial benefit when Wade treated her to and paid for vacations.
Wade explained away bank statements showing him paying for tickets for himself and Willis — including to the Bahamas, Aruba and Napa Valley, Calif. — by saying they roughly split the cost of their trips and Willis had paid him back in cash, and that she received no financial benefit from the relationship.
“I never purchased a gift for Ms. Willis,” Wade said.
‘My sweat and tears’
And when lawyer Craig Gillian — who reps another defendant, David Shafer — pressed Wade about where the cash repayments went and the lack of paper trail, Wade said it “probably would have gone to one of my children.”
Willis claimed she used cash from a stash she kept at home and that she always squirreled away money, ranging from a few hundred dollars to as much as $15,000.
“That cash — you do not know where it came from?” Merchant asked Willis.
“It came from my sweat and tears,” Willis shot back.
When Merchant tried to ask if it was from her work as a private attorney or as district attorney, Willis snapped, “What are you talking about?”
Moments later she accused Merchant of “mischaracterizing my testimony greatly. I am not going to allow you to mischaracterize my testimony.”
Willis said it was important for her to pay her way in their relationship in order to maintain equality and she never wanted a man to “foot my bills.”
In fact, she claimed a catalyst for their breakup was they would have “brutal arguments about the fact that I am your equal.”
Willis insisted the pair’s split “had absolutely nothing to do with” the Trump indictment getting handed up by a grand jury Aug. 14.
Willis’ testimony continues Friday morning at 9 a.m.