Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told the business partner of Nathan Wade, Willis’ lover, to be quiet about the admitted affair between her and Wade, according to court documents filed Monday.
“They are coming after us. You don’t need to talk to them about anything about us,” Willis reportedly told Terrence Bradley in a phone call, the New York Post reported.
The documents indicate the Willis-Wade affair occurred in 2019, resulting in an apparent conflict of interest since the relationship was long before November 2021 when Willis appointed Wade to pursue Donald Trump for alleged election interference
Willis’ alleged statement to Bradley was overheard and will be included in testimony by Cindi Lee Yeager, a Cobb County, Georgia, prosecutor, according to the documents presented by one of Trump’s 18 co-defendants, David Schafer.
Claiming conflict of interest, lawyers for Trump and other co-defendants have been trying to get Willis off the case.
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Both Willis and Wade have admitted under oath they were romantically involved from 2022 to 2023, after Willis appointed Wade, but the conflict of interest accusation against Willis resulted from her hiding the affair from the court, the Post said.
Evidence is mounting that the affair began in 2019, when Willis was running for office, according to what Yeager will reportedly state under oath regarding overhearing a telephone call.
Testimony in mid-February by a former Fulton County employee also indicated the affair was taking place as early as 2019.
In a hearing on disqualifying Willis from the case, last week Bradley testified he did not know when Willis and Wade became romantically involved.
Should Fani Willis be removed from the Trump case?
Yet Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for another co-defendant confronted Bradley on the stand regarding a text he had sent Merchant, which said Willis and Wade “absolutely” were involved prior to Willis appointing Wade to the Trump case.
Regarding Bradley’s testimony, Yeager “became concerned as a result of the fact that what Mr. Bradley testified to on the witness stand was directly contrary to what Mr. Bradley had told Ms. Yeager in person,” according to the court filing.
Bradley’s testimony about the relationship between Willis and Wade was based on what Bradley had admitted was “speculation,” according to Willis’ office, which also called Bradley an unreliable witness with “every motive to lie” after departure from the Wade law office following suspicion of sexual assault, the Post said.
On Friday, Judge Scott McAfee indicated he has hopes of deciding the case within two weeks.
It was Merchant, representing co-defendant Michael Roman, who had initiated the effort to disqualify Willis.
She is expected to testify this week before a Georgia Senate committee reviewing the controversy stemming from the Trump election case.
Merchant told ABC News the Senate Special Committee on Investigations had subpoenaed her as part of their investigation of Willis.
The committee is also seeking to determine if new or amended laws were needed for the state’s criminal justice system.
