Fani Willis friend contradicts start of ‘romantic’ relationship with Nathan Wade

A longtime friend of Fulton County (Ga.) District Attorney Fani Willis (D) testified Thursday that Willis began a “romantic” relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade in 2019 — three years prior to when Willis and Wade said they started seeing each other. 

Robin Yeartie, a college friend of Willis’s, said the prosecutors’ relationship began shortly after a municipal court conference in October 2019 and remained constant until she stopped speaking with Willis in 2022.

“You have no doubt that their romantic relationship was in effect from 2019 until the last time you spoke with her?” defense lawyer Ashleigh Merchant asked.

“No doubt,” Yeartie replied.

Yeartie testified that she last spoke with Willis in March 2022, after leaving the Fulton County district attorney’s office due to a “situation” in which she was told she could resign or be fired. The incident ended her friendship with Willis, she said. 

The testimony is in direct conflict with what Willis and Wade represented in court filings. Wade said in a sworn affidavit that their relationship began in 2022. 

Yeartie’s account suggests Willis and Wade began seeing each other romantically before Willis hired Wade to investigate Trump. Defense attorneys say that the Fulton County district attorney has benefited from Wade’s employment. 

Willis and Wade have since vacationed to Aruba and Belize, plus took two cruises to the Bahamas, which Wade paid for, defense attorneys said in court filings. 

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The district attorney’s office has strongly refuted those allegations, indicating the pair divides their personal travel expenses “rather evenly” and do not have shared finances.

“To be absolutely clear, the personal relationship between Special Prosecutor Wade and District Attorney Willis has never involved direct or indirect financial benefit to District Attorney Willis,” prosecutors wrote in a filing earlier this month.

If the timeline discrepancy proves true, it could bolster defense attorneys’ effort to disqualify Willis and her office from the case. Judge Scott McAfee must determine whether their relationship constitutes a conflict of interest — or, the appearance of one, which could also be grounds for dismissal.