In a possible setback for former President Donald J. Trump and his co-defendants in the Georgia election meddling case, a key witness testified Tuesday that he did not know when a romantic relationship began between the two prosecutors leading the case.
Defense attorneys are seeking to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis, arguing that her romantic relationship with the attorney she hired to lead the case, Nathan Wade, has created an unreasonable conflict of interest.
Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade have said the relationship only began after she hired him in November 2021. Mr. Trump’s lawyer has accused them of lying.
For weeks, the defense had suggested that a key witness, Terrence Bradley, Mr. Wade’s former divorce lawyer and law partner, could provide critical testimony contradicting Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade. But Mr Bradley testified in court on Tuesday that “I don’t know when the relationship started” and that he “never witnessed anything”.
Lawyers for Mr. Trump and other defendants attacked Mr. Bradley’s credibility on Tuesday, reading aloud text messages he wrote in January that appeared to suggest he knew more about the prosecutors’ relationship than he was letting on. In text exchanges, Mr. Bradley told a defense lawyer, Ashley Merchand, that the romance between the prosecutors had begun before Nov. 1, 2021, when Ms. Willis hired Mr. Wade.
“Do you think it happened before he hired him?” Ms Merchant asked Mr Bradley in a text exchange, which was entered into evidence. “Absolutely,” replied Mr. Bradley.
But on the stand Tuesday, Mr. Bradley insisted he was merely “speculating” about the relationship in those texts and was not speaking from personal knowledge.
It was the third time Mr. Bradley has taken the witness stand this month in a series of hearings that have threatened to overturn the prosecution of Mr. Trump and his allies for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The defense team claims the two prosecutors engaged in “self-dealing” because Mr. Wade spent money on a vacation he took with Ms. Willis while being paid by her office.
Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade denied any improper financial gain and testified that they roughly split the cost of their vacations to places such as the Caribbean and Napa Valley.
The unusual detour that followed the election meddling case, forcing chief prosecutors to fight allegations of impropriety, may have changed it dramatically. Even if the presiding judge allows Ms. Willis to keep the case, she is likely to face tough scrutiny going forward, including from a new state commission that could remove prosecutors and from the Georgia Senate, which has start an investigation.
And if Ms. Willis and her team take the case, more serious trouble could follow.
The allegations first emerged in a deposition last month by Ms. Merchant, a lawyer for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official who is among the defendants. Her attempt to exclude Ms. Willis, Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis’ entire office appears to be based largely on her recent communications with Mr. Bradley.
Mr Bradley has been at loggerheads with Mr Wade in recent years as their business relationship has soured. At an earlier hearing, it emerged that Mr Bradley had been accused of sexually assaulting an employee of the business, an allegation he has vehemently denied.
Mr. Bradley clearly had no desire to testify for his former attorney and was a reluctant witness whenever he took the stand.
In a court appearance this month, he declined to answer questions about what he knew about the affair, citing attorney-client privilege and other rules that protect attorneys from having to disclose communications with clients.
But Scott McAfee, the Fulton County Superior Court judge overseeing the case, said Tuesday that neither Mr. Wade nor Mr. Bradley “had met their burden of showing that the attorney-client privilege applied” to the extent which will protect him from answering all the questions.
Mr Bradley arrived in court on Tuesday afternoon wearing a checkered suit and looking grim to face hostile questions from a series of defense lawyers.
“I don’t know that it started or when it started,” he told Ms Merchant of the relationship between Mr Wade and Ms Willis, a claim he made several times. He also testified that he had not spoken to any of the prosecutors since the allegations arose, or recently.
Steven H. Sandow, Mr. Trump’s lawyer, pressed Bradley on his text exchanges with Ms. Marchand, suggesting the relationship began before Mr. Wade was hired. “Why guess and say that in a text?” asked Mr. Sadow, repeating the question several times.
“I don’t remember why I thought it started at the time,” Mr Bradley replied, later repeating that he was only speculating.
Judge McAfee also appears to be scrutinizing the details of how the two prosecutors split the cost of the vacation they took together. Delta Air Lines has provided court records that have been sealed, the judge said in an order filed Monday. Delta was among the airlines Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade used for their private trips, previous records have shown.
Another hearing is scheduled for Friday. Judge McAfee said he would not rule from the bench, meaning a decision is not likely to be made until next week at the earliest.
Among the issues that could come up on Friday are subpoenaed phone records, which Mr. Sadow said show “just under 12,000” calls and text messages between Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade over the first 11 months of 2021, before hiring him.
A filing by Mr Sadow last week also said mobile phone location data suggested Mr Wade was near Ms Willis’ residence from late at night until dawn on two occasions during that time.
However, such data is often limited in the extent to which it can pinpoint someone’s location. And Ms. Willis’ office said the data “does not establish that Special Counsel Wade was ever at any particular location or address.”
At an earlier hearing, a witness named Robin Yeartie, a former friend of Ms. Willis and a former employee of the DA’s office, said the affair began before Mr. Wade was hired. As with Mr. Bradley, the judge will have to weigh the credibility of Ms. Yeartie, who left the DA’s office on bad terms, ending her friendship with Ms. Willis.
Ms Willis, in her own dramatic testimony this month, said the affair ended before Mr Trump was indicted in August and strongly defended her conduct, as well as her case.
“These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020,” he told Ms Merchant. “I am not on trial, no matter how much you try to put me on trial.”
