Ex-divorce attorney takes stand in Fani Willis misconduct hearing: Recap

Bradley’s second bout on the witness stand has concluded, with little new information but a healthy dose of doubt.

The ex-Wade divorce lawyer confirmed the existence of texts where he contradicted Willis and Wade’s relationship timeline, but said he was speculating in those messages about their romance. He also failed to recall several key details, including whether he ever lied to defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant throughout their communications.

On Friday, defense attorneys and state lawyers will argue their positions on the motion to disqualify Willis, Wade and the district attorney’s office writ large before the judge.

The judge said he would address cell phone data compiled by an investigator working with former President Trump’s legal team if, after arguments, he believes it could make a difference in his ruling.

— Ella Lee

The state asked no questions to Bradley after each defense attorney had their turn.

The judge then excused Bradley from the stand, but the hearing is still going.

— Zach Schonfeld

Bradley testified that he read the title of the motion to disqualify Willis and Wade from prosecuting Trump when defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant sent it to him for review.

The title of the motion reads: “Defendant Michael Roman’s motion to dismiss grand jury indictment as fatally defective and motion to disqualify the district attorney, her office and the special prosecutor from further prosecuting this manner.”

“When you tell this court that you didn’t know what (Merchant) was up to, what she was going to do — she kind of gave you a hint, didn’t she? In the title of the motion that she sent for you to read?” asked Craig Gillen, an attorney for defendant David Shafer.

“I read the title of what the motion was,” Bradley replied.

— Ella Lee

Richard Rice, who represents pro-Trump attorney and co-defendant Bob Cheeley in the case, asked Bradley if he ever lied to Merchant when texting with her as she prepared her motion to disqualify prosecutors.

“When you communicated with Ms. Merchant, did you tell her any lies about Mr. Wade and Ms Willis’s relationship,” Rice asked.

“Did I lie?” Bradley responded

Rice then said, “That’s a simple question, Mr. Bradley, you’re a lawyer.”

“Not that I recall,” Bradley replied.

Rice continued to press the point, and Bradley again gave the same answer: “I don’t recall ever whether any of it was a lie or not.”

— Zach Schonfeld

Judge Scott McAfee, who has sounded congested and said he is feeling under the weather, has shown little patience during the hearing.

McAfee has repeatedly interjected to try to turn down the temperature and also move the questioning along. He told the first defense attorney that she would be cut off when the clock struck a specific time.

When the proceedings turned to Allyn Stockton, attorney for Rudy Giuliani, Stockton said he would “just briefly” question the witness.

“We’ll see,” McAfee quipped.

As opposed to some of Trump’s other cases, he has refrained from attacking McAfee, and multiple defense attorneys have expressed confidence in the judge’s handling of the case.

— Zach Schonfeld

Sadow concluded his examination of Bradley with a question that went unanswered.

“Mr. Bradley, you realize that if you were to testify under oath that you knew from Mr. Wade that the relationship between him and Ms. Willis existed before the contract on Nov. 1 of 2021 — that if you testified that you knew that from Mr. Wade — that would show that both Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade had lied under oath?” Sadow asked. “You know that, don’t you?”

State lawyers objected, which McAfee sustained.

“Then that’s all I have,” Sadow said.

— Ella Lee

Under questioning by Trump lawyer Steve Sadow, Bradley testified that he was speculating on the timeline of Willis and Wade’s relationship.

Sadow referred back to text messages presented by Merchant, where Bradley said he “absolutely” believed Willis and Wade’s romance began before the district attorney hired the special prosecutor.

“That’s speculation on my part,” Bradley said.

Sadow dug in: “Why in the heck would you speculate in this text message?”

After some back and forth, Bradley later answered that he has “no answer” for why he speculated on the matter.

“What you want the court to believe and you want the rest of us to believe, is that for some unknown reason, upon being asked a direct question about when the relationship started, you decided on your own to simply speculate and put it down in a text message as opposed to putting down what you actually knew,” Sadow said.

He alleged that Bradley does know when the relationship began but does not want to testify to that in court.

— Ella Lee

Fox News, MSNBC and CNN are all airing the hearing live, showing how the district attorney’s relationship has been thrust into the national limelight.

— Zach Schonfeld

Merchant wrapped up her questioning by asking Bradley if he wanted to correct any of his answers, reminding him that he was under oath.

“Is there any of your testimony from today or the previous days that you want to correct?” Merchant asked.

“No, I told you everything, I’ve answered everything that you asked,” Bradley responded.

Up next is Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the election interference case.

— Zach Schonfeld

Bradley told Merchant over text he believed Willis and Wade began dating before the district attorney hired Wade to prosecute Trump, he acknowledged in court.

Willis and Wade maintain she brought him on as a top prosecutor in the election interference matter in late 2021, before they began dating in early 2022.

When Merchant asked Bradley whether he recalled her text questioning whether the prosecutors’s romance “started before (Willis) hired him,” ahe said he replied “absolutely.” Bradley said he did “see that in the text messages.”

“And do you also recall me asking you how they would react — if they would attack me? And you said ‘No, they will deny it?’” Merchant asked Bradley, drawing an objection from the state that the judge overruled.

“That’s written in there. Yes,” he replied.

— Ella Lee

Bradley has said he doesn’t recall information more than 10 times since taking the stand, including that he doesn’t have any personal knowledge of trips that Willis and Wade took.

“Do you have any knowledge of the trips that he and Ms. Willis took?” Merchant asked.

Bradley responded, “I do now,” in reference to the trips being brought to light in Trump’s election case.

Merchant, the defense attorney, responded by sharing screenshots of what she says are text exchanges between her and Bradley in which he did, in fact, share the information being asked about.

“Do you remember telling me that it didn’t surprise you that they took the trips that I found in the divorce file, because they took many trips to Florida, Texas, California,” Merchant asked.

“I don’t recall that,” Bradley responded.

Bradley has, however, acknowledged texting and calling with Merchant.

“I’m quite sure you have the text message and will refresh my memory,” Bradley said at one point.

— Zach Schonfeld

Merchant suggested that Bradley, Nathan Wade’s former law partner and divorce attorney, approved her initial motion alleging Willis and Wade began dating in 2019, years earlier than prosecutors have claimed in sworn testimony.

Roman’s defense attorney detailed sending Bradley a copy of her initial motion and asking him to review it for inaccuracies. Bradley flagged an inaccuracy, but it referred to a $74,480 payment he received for a contract that had been taken out of the draft.

“You said, ‘Yes, add it back,’ and then I said, ‘Anything else? Anything that is inaccurate?’ and you responded, ‘Looks good,’” Merchant said.

Bradley replied that his remark only applied to the payment — not to the other allegations in the motion.

— Ella Lee

Things are getting heated as Terrence Bradley indicates he doesn’t know the answers to many of the questions posed by defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant.

Adam Abbate, with the district attorney’s office, has made multiple objections to the questioning from Merchant.

“These speaking objections are clearly coaching the witness, because he’s regurgitating,” Merchant said.

“Your honor, I take offense to that comment,” Abbate responded. “I’m objecting based on the law, and I’m making a record for the court. So I take offense to that comment. It’s not the case.”

Moments later, Merchant again took issue.

“Mr. Bradley is looking at Mr. Wade and his lawyer to wait for them to object, and they’re clearly interacting, somehow, in the court. So, I just want the record to reflect that because it wouldn’t otherwise,” Merchant said.

— Zach Schonfeld

Merchant, Roman’s defense attorney who first surfaced allegations of a romance between Willis and Wade, dove straight into questioning Bradley over the timeline of the prosecutors’s relationship.

The line of questioning drew repeated objections from state lawyers, and Bradley has not budged on his testimony. Judge Scott McAfee warned Merchant that her runway was getting shorter.

“I’ll let you ask a few more questions,” McAfee said. “But if he doesn’t have a date, then I don’t know that you’re going to be able to create one today.”

— Ella Lee

Terrence Bradley was sworn in and has taken the stand.

Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, who originally brought to light the romance accusations, began by asking Bradley about his knowledge of the relationship timeline.

“I do not have knowledge of it starting or when it started,” Bradley insisted.

— Zach Schonfeld

Judge Scott McAfee said at the start of Tuesday’s hearing that Bradley, Wade’s ex-law partner and divorce lawyer, would have to retake the stand to testify about Wade and Willis’s romantic relationship.

“I found that neither Mr. Wade nor Mr. Bradley had met their burden of establishing that the attorney-client privilege applied specifically as it relates to Mr. Bradley’s knowledge of any relationship that existed between Miss Willis and Mr. Wade,” McAfee said.

— Ella Lee

The judge has taken the bench.

Many of the attorneys, including Trump attorney Steve Sadow, are appearing virtually.

— Zach Schonfeld

Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor in Trump’s Georgia election interference case embroiled in scandal over his past relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D), has arrived in court.

While both Wade and Willis say their romance began in early 2022, defense attorneys contend it started years earlier and before Willis hired Wade to prosecute Trump.

Wade’s ex-law partner and divorce lawyer, Terrence Bradley, is expected to take the stand Tuesday after a judge determined some testimony is not covered by attorney-client privilege.

— Ella Lee

Tuesday’s hearing emerged at the last minute.

Judge Scott McAfee scheduled it after privately meeting in his chambers with Terrence Bradley on Monday to discuss his claims of attorney-client privilege. McAfee notified defense attorneys later in the day that Bradley would have to retake the stand, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Although it is unclear what specific topics Bradley will discuss, the judge’s determination that Bradley must testify in greater detail about the relationship is a striking development in the ongoing legal battle.

One witness has already contradicted prosecutors’ asserted timeline of their relationship, and defense attorneys claim Bradley will become the second person to do so under oath.

Also, Tuesday will not be the last time the parties convene in McAfee’s courtroom on the matter. The judge has scheduled arguments for Friday afternoon, when he is expected to rule on whether to disqualify the district attorney’s office at some point afterward.

— Zach Schonfeld

When Bradley testified earlier this month in the blockbuster disqualification hearing, he quickly made apparent he would offer as little information as allowed.

“Not happy to be here I’m assuming?” Ashleigh Merchant, who represents defendant Michael Roman, asked Bradley when he took the stand.

“I am not,” Bradley replied. “Wasn’t by choice.”

Bradley established early on that he would avoid testifying about anything tangential to Willis and Wade’s relationship, asserting that, after consulting with the State Bar of Georgia, he would otherwise put his law license at risk.

“I’m not here to misrepresent to the court or to say anything inappropriate or anything; I am here because I also have a law license, and I’m not trying to lose that,” he said.

— Ella Lee

A judge indicated the man billed as the star witness in the attempt by former President Trump and his co-defendants to disqualify Georgia prosecutors must retake the stand, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Defense attorneys have asserted that Terrence Bradley, an ex-law partner and divorce attorney for special prosecutor Nathan Wade, has knowledge contradicting Wade’s claims he only began a romantic relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) after being hired.

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