The evidentiary hearing on the personal relationship between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Nathan Wade continued into a second day.
Mr. Wade is the special prosecutor she appointed to take the lead in the racketeering case that accuses former President Donald Trump and 14 others of an alleged criminal conspiracy in their actions to challenge the 2020 election.
Both testified on the first day. The defense would have to show a conflict of interest and financial benefit for Ms. Willis to warrant her disqualification from the prosecution.
Ashleigh Merchant, defense attorney for Michael Roman, is taking the lead in questioning for the defense, as the motion to disqualify originated from information she obtained and made public in a court filing.
Anna Cross, an attorney Ms. Willis had contracted alongside Mr. Wade, is leading the questioning for the district attorney’s office.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee presided over the hearing and is not expected to rule on the motion today.
Attorneys Debate Privilege Issues
The judge called for a break while attorneys sorted out privilege issues.
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Terrence Bradley, a former law partner of Mr. Wade’s, was referred to as a key witness prior to the hearing. But when he first testified on Thursday it was a brief event, during which he said he was informed he could not share anything after checking with the state bar on Wednesday. Mr. Bradley had represented Mr. Wade during divorce proceedings and Mr. Wade has asserted attorney-client privilege.
Mr. Bradley was understood to have originated the allegations that led to the motion to disqualify.
Willis’s Father Did Not Know About Wade Relationship
Mr. Floyd said the first time he heard of Ms. Willis’s relationship with Mr. Wade was about seven weeks ago “when everyone else found out.”
He said she never told him about this relationship. He knew that Ms. Willis had gone out of town the times she went to Aruba and on a cruise with Mr. Wade, but Mr. Floyd did not know who she was with.
Mr. Floyd said “maybe it’s a black thing” but he was trained to always keep access to cash. He shared a story about not being refused service when trying to use a credit card or traveler’s checks, but people always accepted cash.
“I’ve always kept cash, and I’ve told my daughter, you keep six months of cash, always,” Mr. Floyd said.
Mr. Wade had testified that Ms. Willis reimbursed him in cash, and there was no deposit record of it. Ms. Willis said she always kept cash at her home, as was a habit from her father’s advice. Defense counsel pressed the two for records of these reimbursements.
Willis’s Father Says Willis Dated DJ
Mr. Floyd said that from 2019 to the end of 2020 Ms. Willis was dating someone and had come over to the house, “sometimes every day, sometimes every other day.”
“He was a disc jockey or something,” he said with a laugh. “I think he had a government job during the day, I don’t know what.”
Mr. Floyd said the first he met or even heard of Mr. Wade was in 2023.
Mr. Floyd told Mr. Sadow that when Ms. Willis moved out, he intentionally did not want to know her new address, for fear of security issues.
Willis’s Father Testifies About Security Threats
Ms. Cross called John Clifford Floyd III, Ms. Willis’s father, to the witness stand. Mr. Floyd, now retired, was a longtime trial lawyer.
Mr. Floyd said he lived with Ms. Willis in her home and after she was elected district attorney people had come to her home to harass her.
“She was forced to leave,” Mr. Floyd said. “There have been so many death threats. They said they were going to blow up the house, they said they were going to kill her, they said they were going to kill me, they said they were going to kill my grandchildren.”
He said people had painted insulting words on the house, and he cleaned it off before his daughter was aware, and called the police. Neighbors had also called the police during other incidents, he added.
Ms. Willis had testified that her father urged her to leave, but stayed in the house even after she moved out.
Former Georgia Gov. Testifies
After a break and change in the order of witnesses, former Georgia Gov. Roy Eugene Barnes took the witness stand.
In 2021, Mr. Barnes met with Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade about the special prosecutor position.
“To which I replied, I had mouths at a law office,” he testified. “I could not do that.”
The defense has alleged that Ms. Willis hired Mr. Wade, with whom she had a relationship, to enrich herself. The state is arguing that other attorneys were approached to take the special prosecutor job before Mr. Wade, and expressed reservations because of the pay and potential harassment.
Steve Sadow, attorney for President Trump, asked Mr. Barnes whether Ms. Willis had brought up Mr. Wade as a possibility for special prosecutor in talks with him. Mr. Barnes said no, but he wasn’t surprised, because Mr. Wade is a “good organizer.”
Mr. Barnes checked his calendar and said the meeting with Ms. Willis was Oct. 26, 2021.
Willis Done Testifying
Ms. Cross intended to call Ms. Willis as the state’s first witness, but Friday morning said they no longer had questions for her.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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