Wade Associate Testifies About Text That Wade-Willis Relationship Began Before Hiring

Terrence Bradley, former law partner and attorney to special prosecutor Nathan Wade, testified about Mr. Wade and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s relationship in a public court hearing on Feb. 27.

Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis’s relationship has been at the center of a motion to disqualify the prosecutors from the high-profile election case naming former President Donald Trump and 14 others in an alleged racketeering scheme.

Attorney Ashleigh Merchant, representing defendant Michael Roman, showed Mr. Bradley a text message in which he told her that Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis’s relationship began when she was a judge in South Fulton, Georgia.

“I do not recall,” Mr. Bradley answered. “I see that message, but I do not recall that.”

“And when I asked you if you thought it started before she hired him, and you responded ‘absolutely,’” Ms. Merchant added before being interrupted by an objection from state attorneys that the source of information was in question.

The testimony came after two tries during which Mr. Bradley invoked attorney-client privilege on the witness stand, only to have state attorneys inadvertently reveal before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee that Mr. Bradley seemed to have improperly interpreted what was covered by attorney-client privilege.

The judge called for a closed-door meeting with Mr. Bradley after his Feb. 16 testimony and later determined that he had information about Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis’s relationship that should be heard in court, calling the Feb. 27 hearing.

“I found that neither Mr. Wade nor Mr. Bradley had met their burden in establishing that the attorney-client privilege applied specifically as it relates to Mr. Bradley’s knowledge of any relationship that existed between Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade,” Judge McAfee said.

The subject of the hearing was only for “knowledge that was conveyed to” Mr. Bradley.

“He claimed that it was privileged at the last hearing; I found that it was not,” the judge said.

Mr. Wade, who had already finished his testimony, was sitting with the state attorneys.

Timeline

When asked when he first learned about Mr. Wade’s relationship with Ms. Willis, Mr. Bradley explained he got the knowledge from a client and did not know the specific date.

“You’re asking for a year, which is still a date. I do not have a date,” Mr. Bradley said.

Mr. Bradley got his first contract with the district attorney’s office in January 2021, when Ms. Willis first took office and needed a short-term contractor. Mr. Bradley obtained that one-year contract through Mr. Wade.

“I cannot tell you accurately whether they were in a relationship at the time,” Mr. Bradley said.

Prior to the disqualification hearings, Ms. Merchant suggested that Mr. Bradley was the source of the information that led her to file a motion to disqualify. During the Feb. 16 hearing, she read out loud texts between her and Mr. Bradley in which they discussed Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis’s relationship.

However, Mr. Bradley has not confirmed where he obtained this knowledge, and began his testimony by stating he had no personal knowledge of the relationship. This was the basis for repeated objections from the state.

Ms. Merchant, and the judge, sought to determine where Mr. Bradley obtained the knowledge he shared with Ms. Merchant, but Mr. Bradley said he did not have a source.

“I was speculating,” Mr. Bradley said. “No one told me; I was speculating.”

Ms. Merchant asked what his speculation was based on, leading to another objection.

“Was it things that had been told to you? Or that you had witnessed?” Ms. Merchant asked.

“I never witnessed anything,” Mr. Bradley said.

Ms. Merchant later asked more directly, “What did Nathan Wade tell you about the relationship?”

“I recall him stating that, at some point, that they were dating,” Mr. Bradley said. He added he could not remember when it was or whether it was before or after his contract, but he knew it was in their office, with no one else present. “I do not recall any other time that they mentioned they were in a relationship.”

Bradley’s Texts

During the hearing, Ms. Merchant read several texts she sent to or received from Mr. Bradley, to which he generally responded by saying he had no personal knowledge of what he wrote.

“Do you remember telling me that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade would rendezvous at that [Ms. Willis’s private practice] office?” Ms. Merchant asked.

“Any knowledge that I would have would have come from my client at the time,” he said.

“What did you learn from Mr. Wade about Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis meeting at the Evans office together?” Ms. Merchant asked, referring to an office Ms. Willis rented when she was in private practice before she was district attorney.

“I can’t remember what the conversation was. I do recall knowing that they would, that the would go down to the office or had been down the office,” Mr. Bradley said.

“Mr. Wade told you that they had sex at that office though, correct?” Ms. Merchant said.

“I don’t recall him saying that,” Mr. Bradley said.

“You don’t recall. So it’s possible he did say that. You just don’t remember?” Ms. Merchant pressed.

“I do not remember him saying that,” Mr. Bradley said.

“Do you recall that he had a garage door open to a house or condo of something like that of Ms. Willis’s?” Ms. Merchant asked.

Mr. Bradley deflected, saying he never saw such a garage door opener and had never been to Ms. Willis’s house.

“So when you told me that, did you just make it up?” Ms. Merchant asked.

The state objected, and Mr. Bradley did not answer.

Mr. Bradley had texted Ms. Merchant that Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis had taken trips to Texas, Florida, and California, in response to Ms. Merchant sharing information about other trips he was not aware of.

“We don’t need to go through an entire six-month text chain,” Judge McAfee said. “You’re making the point that he made some comments along the way that led you to believe that he had more knowledge than today he’s testifying that he had.”

Mr. Bradley confirmed knowledge of the trips would have come from something Mr. Wade told him.

“Any knowledge that I have of any trip would have come from my client at the time,” he said.

He also confirmed that Mr. Wade had used Mr. Bradley’s credit card for a trip once, and paid him back but he couldn’t remember whether that was with check or cash.