Judge considers whether to disqualify DA Fani Willis

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began a romantic relationship with attorney Nathan Wade years before he became a top prosecutor in her election interference case against Donald Trump, a witness alleged Thursday.

Willis and Wade have denied that their relationship began prior to November 2021, when Wade became special prosecutor in the case.

The timeline is key to arguments over whether the prosecutors’ relationship presents a conflict of interest warranting their disqualification from the criminal case in Fulton County Superior Court.

Robin Yeartie, a former employee in the District Attorney’s Office who described herself as a “good friend” of Willis, testified in a court hearing on the matter that the prosecutors’ relationship began in late 2019.

Yeartie, appearing on Zoom, said there was “no doubt” in her mind about the timeline.

Wade, following Yeartie on the witness stand, testified that his romantic relationship with Willis began in 2022.

Wade said he exchanged pleasantries with Willis for about three minutes at a 2019 judicial conference. 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 makeup of certain benches.

The two spoke more frequently in 2020, but it was “not an everyday thing,” Wade testified. They spoke even more often in 2021, he said.

Wade also testified that he does not recall traveling with Willis in 2021 or earlier. When asked about trips they later took together, Wade said Willis would reimburse him for parts of that travel in cash.

The prosecutor said he never discussed his personal relationship in social settings. “We’re private people,” Wade said. “Our relationship wasn’t a secret, it was just private.”

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

Willis charged Trump and 18 others with trying to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia’s 2020 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 13 criminal counts in the case. A number of Trump’s co-defendants have already struck plea deals with prosecutors.

Trump is not present at the hearing in Fulton County Superior Court. He instead attended a separate hearing in New York City in the hush money criminal case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney.

Judge Scott McAfee on Monday denied Willis’ efforts to cancel the evidentiary hearing, saying he believed “it’s possible that the facts alleged by the defendant could result in disqualification.”

Those remarks came during a hearing on Willis’ bid to quash motions from defendant Michael Roman, who first asked to dismiss the indictment and disqualify Willis due to her alleged personal and financial conflicts.

Roman’s court filing cited Wade’s divorce proceedings, which were under seal at the time, saying they showed him and Willis traveling together to “vacation destinations” and buying cruise tickets.

Willis has called Roman’s allegations “factually inaccurate, unsupported, and malicious.”

Trump’s lawyers joined Roman’s motions in late January. The former president has since asserted that the Georgia case has been “totally discredited” by the relationship between Willis and Wade.

The district attorney in an early February court filing had disputed multiple allegations put forward by Roman’s attorneys, even as she and Wade admitted the relationship.

She denied that their relationship began prior to Wade becoming special prosecutor in the case. She also denied that the relationship affected their “exercise of any prosecutorial discretion.”

Wade, in an affidavit included in Willis’ filing, added that he has “no financial interest” in the outcome of the case, and that “No funds paid to me in compensation for my role as Special Prosecutor have been shared with or provided to District Attorney Willis.”

Willis “received no funds or personal financial gain from my position as Special Prosecutor,” he wrote.

The morning session of Thursday’s hearing was frequently derailed by objections from the state’s lawyers, as well as numerous disputes over whether some witness testimony was shielded by attorney-client privilege.

Terrence Bradley, Wade’s divorce lawyer, was the first witness called to the stand, but he was dismissed amid a privilege dispute after answering just a handful of questions.

Yeartie followed, testifying that she witnessed Willis and Wade being “affectionate” prior to November 2021.

On cross-examination, Yeartie said that she had been written up once for poor performance at her job at the D.A.’s office, and that she resigned from the office under the impression that she would otherwise be let go.

This is developing news. Please check back for updates.