Hearing continues in bid to remove Willis, Wade from Trump election fraud case

(The Center Square) – A hearing into whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had an improper relationship with an attorney she hired to prosecute the state’s election interference case against Donald Trump continued Friday.

Defense attorneys have argued that Willis and Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired, should be removed because of their romantic relationship. Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee said he wouldn’t make any decisions this week.

On Friday morning, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes testified that Fani Willis and Nathan Wade asked him to be the special prosecutor in the Trump election interference trial in 2021. Barnes said he declined because he wasn’t interested and he “had mouths to feed” at his law firm. He said the meeting took place on Oct. 26, 2021. Willis testified Thursday that Wade, who was her lover at one point, wasn’t her first choice.

John Floyd III, who is Fani Willis’ father and a retired attorney, testified Friday that he remained at Willis’s South Fulton home after she moved out for safety reasons. Willis said Thursday that she was forced to move to a condo after getting death threats related to Trump’s prosecution. Floyd said he met one of Willis’s boyfriends, a DJ, in 2019. He said he didn’t meet Wade until 2023. He also testified that he knew about COVID-19 in 2019, before it was announced in the U.S. in early 2020.

A key witness, Terrence Bradley, a former law partner of prosecutor Nathan Wade who represented Wade during his divorce, didn’t appear Friday because he was at a doctor’s appointment. Bradley appeared Thursday, but refused to answer questions. He said the state bar association told him not to answer questions about his client because of attorney-client privilege.

Floyd also testified that Willis never told him she had a personal or romantic relationship with Wade. He said he found out from media reports. He also said having large amounts of cash at home “was a Black thing.” He said he told his daughter to always keep six months’ worth of cash at home. He also said he gave his daughter her first cash box. Floyd also testified that he read, listened to and watched news coverage of his daughter’s testimony from Thursday.

On Thursday, Willis’ former friend Robin Bryant-Yeartie testified that Willis began a romantic relationship with Wade in 2019 shortly after they met at a judicial conference and years before Willis hired Wade. Willis said she did not have a romantic relationship with Wade before she hired him to prosecute the Trump case in 2021. Wade said the relationship started in March 2022. Willis said it began in early 2022.

Willis said Thursday that it is Trump who is on trial, not her. However, the hearing has delved into her life, her romantic partners and her travel with Wade. Defense attorneys repeatedly asked questions about Willis’ finances and other aspects of her life during the hearing, which had been tense and contentious at times.