Fani Willis takes the stand in Georgia disqualification case

The prosecutor leading the sweeping Georgia election interference case against former President Trump and his allies must herself take the witness stand to defend her relationship with another prosecutor on the case as a judge decides whether to bar them from staying on it.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) said she would testify Thursday in a disqualification hearing after defense attorneys sounded the alarm over her personal relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.

“I’m ready to go,” she told the court.

Defense attorneys say Willis must clear the air on the timeline of their relationship, while district attorney’s office prosecutors claim Wade’s own testimony is “not inconsistent; it’s unrebutted.”

The defendants, led by 2020 Trump campaign operative Michael Roman, contend Willis hired Wade after he was already her romantic partner and has since financially benefited from his employment. Their personal partnership renders the indictment against Trump and a slew of others “fatally defective,” Roman argued in a court filing last month.

While Willis and Wade say their relationship began in 2022, after Wade was hired to investigate Trump, an ex-longtime friend of the district attorney testified Thursday to the contrary.

Robin Yeartie, a college friend of Willis’s, said the prosecutors’ romance started shortly after a municipal court conference in October 2019 and remained constant until she stopped speaking with Willis in 2022 following a fallout at work. Yeartie previously worked for the district attorney’s office.

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

“No doubt,” Yeartie replied, contradicting a sworn affidavit by Wade and court filings by Willis.

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When Wade took the stand Thursday, he said he did meet Willis at a judicial conference in 2019 but that their bond was forged in a shared background as jurists of color, not romantic interest.

Wade gave Willis advice about her campaign for district attorney but pointedly reiterated that his “intimate sexual relationship” with Willis began in early 2022.

Defense attorneys also questioned whether Wade paid in full for trips the pair took together while they dated. Wade testified that they split the cost of the trips, insisting she paid her own way in cash for “safety reasons.” He also said he did not deposit that cash.