Georgia judge to hear final statements over Fani Willis disqualification

A Georgia judge will hear arguments Friday over whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) and her office should be kicked off the 2020 election interference case involving former President Trump as the inquiry winds down.

Defense attorneys claim that Willis’s once-romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade renders the sweeping racketeering indictment against Trump and his allies “fatally defective” and have asked Judge Scott McAfee to disqualify the prosecutors from the case.  

Meanwhile, Willis’s office has staunchly defended her and Wade’s integrity, asserting that the romance was never a conflict of interest nor rises to the level of disqualification.

The summations follow weeks of explosive court filings and salacious hearings where defense attorneys sought to prove Willis has financially benefited from Wade’s employment with her office. Once arguments conclude, McAfee is tasked with determining whether to allow the district attorney’s office to continue prosecuting Trump — or, to throw the case into limbo by booting them from it.

McAfee previously said the allegations against Willis and Wade “could result” in their disqualification if evidence shows an “actual conflict of interest or the appearance of one.”

The judge’s decision could hinge on his assessment of the romance’s timeline — a point of contention throughout the inquiry.

Willis and Wade have maintained that they started dating in early 2022 and broke up in summer 2023 — the entire romance occurring after Wade’s hiring in November 2021. But defense attorneys insist Willis and Wade began seeing each other romantically after the 2019 municipal conference where they first met.

During the first evidentiary hearing on the matter earlier this month, an ex-friend of Willis testified that the prosecutors “no doubt” started dating after the conference, asserting she saw the pair “hugging” and “kissing” before Wade’s hiring.

In text messages with Ashleigh Merchant — the defense attorney who in January initiated the disqualification bid — Wade’s ex-law partner, Terrence Bradley, also said the prosecutors’ relationship “absolutely” began before Wade’s hiring.

However, Bradley testified Wednesday that his comments to Merchant were “speculation.” When pressed by other defense attorneys, he had “no answer” for why he speculated and said he could not recall whether he lied to Merchant, drawing his credibility into question.

Willis and Wade both took the witness stand earlier this month in a hearing about their relationship.

Both prosecutors testified they met at the 2019 judicial conference and bonded as jurists of color, not romantically. Instead, they said a mentor-like relationship was initially formed and their communication increased over time.

Despite their romance running its course, Willis and Wade described each other as “good friends” and said their relationship was made stronger by “attacks” resulting from the disqualification effort.

“I think that you have cemented that we’ll be friends to the day we die,” Willis told Merchant during the Feb. 15 hearing.

The defense’s claim that Willis financially benefited from Wade’s employment is largely hinged on a series of vacations the then-couple took together.

In court filings, defense attorneys pointed to joint vacations to Aruba and Belize, plus two cruises to the Bahamas and other trips, for which they say Wade paid. Willis and Wade claim they divide their travel expenses “rather evenly.”

Wade described Willis as an “independent, proud woman” who insisted on paying her own way — and, usually, in cash. The special prosecutor said he did not deposit the cash Willis paid him, instead opting to “spend it or put it in my pocket or put it in the hotel’s safe.”

Though Willis — and her father — testified she has always kept a stash of cash in her home, defense attorneys suggested that payment method didn’t “pass the smell test.”

The arguments Friday could grow heated, as court filings and testimony over the last several weeks often took a personal turn; when Willis took the stand earlier this month, she accused Merchant of intruding into her personal life and scolded the defense for attempting to put her on trial.

“These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020,” she said, waving out at the crowd. “I’m not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.”