Fani Willis: Trump prosecutor's affair timing contradicted in court

Image source, Getty Images

Fani Willis has admitted to a personal relationship with Nathan Wade (middle) a prosecutor she hired for the Trump case

By Madeline Halpert

BBC News

A Georgia official who is prosecuting Donald Trump began an affair with a top lawyer on the case earlier than she claims, a court has heard.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Nathan Wade have said their relationship started only after she hired him in late 2021.

But a former friend of Ms Willis told the prosecutor's misconduct hearing that the affair began in 2019.

The claims could upend the election-subversion charges against Mr Trump.

A Trump co-accused, Michael Roman, wants Ms Willis and her entire office disqualified from the case. The former president and co-defendants are accused of a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Ms Willis acknowledged in a court filing last week that she had an affair with Mr Wade, but denied it had tainted the Trump proceedings.

Her filing included a sworn affidavit from Mr Wade that said there was no "no personal relationship" between him and Ms Willis "prior to or at the time" he was appointed to the Trump case in November 2021.

But on Thursday morning, a former close friend of Ms Willis told the court in Atlanta, Georgia, that Ms Willis and Mr Wade's romantic relationship began two years earlier.

Robin Yeartie, a former employee of the Fulton County district attorney's office, said she had seen the couple "hugging, kissing".

Image source, Fulton County Sheriff's Office

Michael Roman's police booking photo

Ms Yeartie, a college friend of Ms Willis, said the two prosecutors' romance kindled shortly after they met at a municipal court conference in October 2019.

"You have no doubt that their romantic relationship was in effect from 2019 until the last time you spoke with her?" Mr Roman's lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, asked.

"No doubt," Ms Yeartie replied.

Andrew Fleischman, a defence attorney in Atlanta, told the BBC that Robin Yeartie's testimony was "a really huge problem" and "quite damaging" for Ms Willis.

And the fact that Ms Yeartie sought to avoid testimony in this case blunts attempts by state attorneys to portray her as a disgruntled former employee out for revenge, says Mr Fleischman.

The hearing now becomes a he-said, she-said situation, putting the judge in an "awkward" position, the defence attorney told the BBC.

In court on Thursday, Mr Wade testified that his romantic relationship with Ms Willis began in "around March" of 2022.

The defence lawyer repeatedly pressed Mr Wade on whether he had travelled with Ms Willis in 2021.

"I don't recall any travel," he responded.

Judge Scott McAfee has said he could disqualify Ms Willis from the case if evidence supports the claims.

He has set aside Friday, too, for the hearing. Judge McAfee has said it will focus on several questions: when Ms Willis and Mr Wade's relationship began, whether it is still going on, and whether there was any financial conflict of interest.

The first female district attorney in Fulton County, she charged Mr Trump and 18 co-defendants last year with conspiring to overturn the former president's 2020 loss to Joe Biden in Georgia.

Mr Trump himself faces 13 felony charges, with allegations of pressuring Georgia officials and a scheme to use bogus electoral officials to fraudulently certify victory for him.

As Thursday's hearing got under way in Atlanta, Mr Trump was 900 miles (1,450km) away in Manhattan for a hearing that decided a hush money case against him will begin on 25 March. It will be the first criminal trial of a former US president.

Mr Roman claims Ms Willis overpaid Mr Wade for the special counsel role and that the two took luxury holidays together, paid for by Mr Wade, including two cruises to the Bahamas, and trips to Napa Valley, California, and the Caribbean resorts of Aruba and Belize.

In legal filings, Ms Willis has admitted she and Mr Wade developed a "personal relationship", but denied it affected the election case.

Image source, Getty Images

Judge McAfee has said it is "possible" Ms Willis could be removed from the case

The pair have said they split travel expenses equally. Her filing only included receipts only for one airplane trip from Atlanta to Miami.

Lawyers are ethically required not to submit false statements in court, though disciplinary matters are usually handled by a state bar, rather than judges.

Mr Wade's former divorce lawyer, Terrence Bradley, was the first witness up on Thursday morning.

He said he was "not happy" to be in court for the hearing, only appearing as a result of a subpoena.

Mr Roman's lawyer pressed Mr Bradley on when Ms Willis and Mr Wade's relationship began.

But Mr Bradley declined to respond, arguing that such information was protected by attorney client privilege.

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