ATLANTA (CN) — Lawyers in the Fulton County election interference case against former President Donald Trump summed up their arguments Friday on whether District Attorney Fani Willis’ relationship with a subordinate should disqualify her from prosecuting the case.
Attorneys for Trump and eight of his co-defendants in the racketeering case brought by Willis have argued that she and Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired, have improperly benefitted financially from the case. They also claim the two perjured themselves under oath during the evidentiary hearing held on the matter.
The two prosecutors confirmed that they were once in a romantic relationship but insisted they have done nothing to constitute any conflict of interest in the case.
John Merchant, an attorney for defendant Mike Roman, said he “couldn’t care less” if Willis and Wade had a romantic relationship, but that Willis should be disqualified because she “set up a prosecutorial relationship with her boyfriend.”
He said that the issue is that they dated for two years and then she awarded him a contract where public money ended up in his pockets, and then he used that money for personal trips.
Trump's attorney Steve Sadow inflated the misconduct accusations by adding that Willis' recent remarks at a historic Black church in Atlanta — where she suggested the defense attorneys were attacking Wade because of his race — were made to gain "public sympathy" and cast prejudice onto the defendants.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee mentioned then that precedent suggests prosecutors are only prohibited from making public comments that imply a defendant is guilty.
Sadow added that Willis and Wade's concealment of their former romantic relationship raises concerns about their honesty and integrity.
McAfee said he hopes to rule within two weeks on whether Willis and her office should be disqualified from the Trump prosecution.
“There’s several legal issues to sort through,” McAfee said. “Several factual determinations that I have to make. And those aren’t ones I can make at this moment. I’ll be taking the time to make sure that I give this case the full consideration it’s due.”
Attorney Adam Abbate called the suggestions from defense counsel that Willis was taking lavish trips while she was dating Wade, “a joke." Arguing for the Fulton district attorney's office, Abbate said that Willis and Wade stayed at a DoubleTree Hotel when they traveled to Napa Valley in 2023.
“She stayed at a DoubleTree in Napa, a DoubleTree. I don’t know that to be a lavish hotel,” Abbate said, arguing that the Ritz-Carlton of the Four Seasons hotels might better fit that description.
“There is no evidence of a financial benefit that she gained as it results to the prosecution of this case and the ultimate outcome of this case,” Abbate added.
McAfee asked Abate to respond to cellphone records presented by Trump’s counsel suggesting Wade frequented the Hapeville area around Willis’ condo before she hired him as special prosecutor in November 2021.
Abbate said Wade’s cellphone connected to towers in the Hapeville area 23 times in the first three months of 2021, while Willis was still living in South Fulton. He added that Wade was in the Hapeville area on at least eight occasions during the later months of 2021, when Willis was not there at the same time.
The cellphone records don’t prove that either Willis or Wade lied under oath about the times that Wade did visit her condo, Abbate said.
Terrance Bradley — Wade's former law partner and divorce lawyer who became the defense counsel's "star witness" in their disqualification efforts — had "every motive to lie" while testifying, Abate said.
“All Mr. Bradley’s representations as it relates to when the relationship began and whether they cohabitated … was mere speculation gossip," he added.
Abate noted that Wade and Bradley had a falling out after Bradley was accused of sexually assaulting a colleague and that he later left their law firm.
Defense counsel had told the court that Bradley had knowledge that a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade began earlier than they acknowledged, but Bradley later said he didn’t know when they began dating while on the stand.
Willis attended the closing arguments Friday, following her fiery testimony during the evidentiary hearing earlier this month against questioning from Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for Roman, the defendant who first sparked the misconduct accusations.
The criminal investigation against Trump was first launched by Willis' office in 2021. Trump was charged with racketeering and a dozen other felonies under the indictment brought in August against him and 18 of his allies. It claims they "knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump," in Georgia and other battleground states after the 2020 election.
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