ATLANTA (CN) — During a contentious hearing Thursday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis took the stand to answer questions about a purported romantic relationship between herself and the special prosecutor handling the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump.
The former president and his co-defendants in the racketeering case argue that Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade, misused county funds for personal expenses and should be disqualified from the case and that the charges should be dropped.
During her testimony, Willis fired back at Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney for one of Trump's co-defendants Mike Roman, calling her "dishonest." She rebutted Merchant's claims that her and Wade lived together at one point as "lies."
“You’ve been intrusive into people’s lives. You think I’m on trial,” Willis told Merchant. “I’m not on trial no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.”
Willis testified the two had a "romantic relationship," that ended around August 2023, after she and Wade had a “tough conversation,” but that they remain “very good” friends.
Wade also took the stand and was battered by Merchant with personal questions about the details of his relationship with Willis, such as how it formed and purchases he made during trips they took together.
However Wade denied that his relationship with Willis is in any way "romantic" and described it as "personal."
He testified that Willis had paid him back in cash for airline and cruise tickets he purchased for both of them. He said that Willis' travel transactions were made under his name due to security concerns over threats she has received.
"We are private people. Our relationship was not a secret, it was just private," Wade said while on the stand.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said he wants to determine if any personal benefits had been given or received between the two as a result of the relationship. The evidentiary hearing will continue Friday morning.
Earlier this month, Willis and Wade sought to quash their subpoenas to testify and described their relationship as developing from "professional associates" to "personal" after Wade was appointed as special prosecutor on the case.
Willis argued that personal relationships among lawyers, even on opposing sides of litigation, "do not constitute impermissible conflicts of interest," noting that counsel for defendant Jenna Ellis are married law partners who have been working together throughout the proceedings.
Wade also denied accusations from Merchant that he filed for divorce from his estranged wife because of Willis. The previously sealed divorce proceedings were made public in January after Roman's motion claimed Wade was having an affair with Willis, and that Wade had filed for divorce just a day after entering his contract to work on the case.
"It was purely coincidental," Wade said of the timing. He said his marriage was "irretrievably broken in 2015 by agreement," and that it was his estranged wife, Jocelyn, who had an affair.
Wade added that the filings were intentionally delayed until after their children graduated school. "I did not have a relationship with anyone during the course of my marriage," he wrote.
When Cross asked Wade about his income before and after entering his contract with the district attorney's office, he said it had decreased "substantially."
Also testifying on Thursday was Robin Yearie, a former friend of Willis and employee of her office. Willis told Yearie that her relationship with Wade became romantic after 2019, according to Yearie's testimony.
Attorney for the Fulton District Attorney's office Anna Cross noted that Yearie and Willis had a falling out in early 2022, and Yearie was forced either to resign or to be fired from her office.
Willis' office launched the criminal investigation 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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