Cell Records Dispute Fani Willis And Nathan Wade’s Relationship Timeline, Trump Team Says

Sara Dorn

Forbes Staff

Politics

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Feb 23, 2024,11:55am EST

 
Fulton County Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade regularly visited District Attorney Fani Willis’ neighborhood before she hired him to work on former President Donald Trump’s criminal case, according to a new affidavit from Trump’s legal team that may contradict the relationship timeline Wade and Willis described in court—as they argue against conflict-of-interest allegations threatening to disqualify Willis from the case.

KEY FACTS

Wade visited the area surrounding Willis’ condo near Atlanta at least 35 times between January and November 2021, when he was hired to work on the Trump case, according to an affidavit from a private investigator hired by Trump’s legal team, citing AT&T records that linked Wade’s phone to the cell tower closest to Willis’ condo.

The pair also had over 2,000 phone calls and exchanged just under 12,000 texts over the 11-month period, the investigator, Charles Mittelstadt, wrote in the affidavit Trump’s lawyers filed as part of their request to have Willis disqualified from the case, alleging her romantic relationship with Wade constitutes a conflict of interest in the case.

The findings dispute Wade’s and Willis’ claims that their relationship began in 2022 and their testimonies last week estimating he visited her condo no more than 10 times before he was hired in late 2021.

KEY BACKGROUND

The relationship between Wade and Willis threatens to derail the Fulton County District Attorney’s election interference case against Trump after one of his co-defendants went public with the allegations earlier this year. Trump and his co-defendants argue Willis financially benefited by hiring Wade, alleging he used his earnings to pay for vacations for the two. Wade and Willis have since admitted to the relationship, but said it began after he was hired, and claim that they split travel expenses for their trips together, with Willis paying him back in cash. They also argue there were no legal violations that would merit her disqualification from the case. Willis’ office charged Trump and 18 others with racketeering in August, alleging they engaged in a wide-ranging scheme to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state. Trump is charged with 12 additional felonies in the case, including solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer and conspiracy to commit forgery. If Willis is disqualified due to a conflict of interest, the case could face serious delays as a statewide panel of prosecutors decides how to handle it—and if defense attorneys can prove Willis and Wade lied under oath about when their relationship started, it could qualify as perjury.

TANGENT

Robin Yeartie, a former Fulton County District Attorney’s office employee who described herself as a former close friend of Willis, also testified last week that Wade and Willis lied about their relationship timeline, claiming it began shortly after an October 2019 judicial conference. Willis later testified that she no longer considers herself friends with Yeartie, who appeared to leave the DA’s office on bad terms.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Wade’s former law partner, Terrence Bradley, is expected to testify before Judge Scott McAfee in a hearing Monday as McAfee weighs Trump’s request to disqualify Willis from the case. If Willis is disqualified from the case, it could have wide-ranging implications, including the possibility that the next prosecutor assigned to take over the case could drop it altogether.

The Juggler said:

Having 40% vote against, essentially, an incumbent, in multiple primaries doesn't seem great.

Imagine the media's incredulousness if Dean Phillips was getting those numbers against Biden.