Trump Georgia case hearing on motion to disqualify Fani Willis continues

The evidentiary hearing in Georgia over whether to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has concluded for the time being, a judge said Friday.

The attorneys will likely have to return in the next few weeks to discuss outstanding issues, including whether Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor Willis hired to lead the case, can still assert attorney-client privilege over some testimony and evidence from his former law partner and divorce attorney, Terrence Bradley.

Both defense attorneys and prosecutors also will have the opportunity to file additional legal briefs as they see fit.

The evidentiary hearing included a tumultuous two days of testimony, including from Willis herself. Before the hearing concluded, the district attorney’s office sought to undermine Bradley’s credibility, including by raising an allegation of sexual assault by an employee of his former law firm. Bradley denied the allegation.

Bradley testified earlier Friday that he left the firm following a “disagreement,” but said the details of the disagreement were privileged. During cross examination, Bradley was pressed on whether he left because of a disagreement over a sexual assault allegation made against him.

“That is not correct,” Bradley said, but confirmed that he was accused of sexually assaulting a member of the firm.

The judge presiding over the case, Scott McAfee, questioned whether Bradley had been properly interpreting the privilege he had previously asserted over communications with Wade, given his testimony on the allegation.

Defense attorneys have continued to try to get information from Nathan Wade’s former law partner and one-time attorney about Wade’s relationship with District Attorney Fani Willis — specifically over the timing of when their relationship began. 

Terrence Bradley, Wade’s former divorce attorney, has repeatedly asserted attorney-client privilege when asked about information he learned from Wade. The judge presiding over the case has acknowledged the privilege exists and has limited what attorneys can question Bradley about.

Bradley did, however, acknowledge that defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant sent him a copy of her motion to dismiss Willis days before she filed it in January. The filing leveled allegations that Willis and Wade engaged in an improper romantic relationship from which Willis financially benefitted.

“I said, ‘looks good,’” Bradley said of his response via text to Merchant regarding her motion, adding that his answer was based on privileged communication with Wade.

Bradley had split from the law firm where he and Wade were partners, saying it was over a “disagreement.” When pressed on what the disagreement was about, Bradley said it was also privileged information and that “the disagreement is mine to know.”

The hearing has now wrapped up for the day.

Several prominent Georgia Democrats and local political heavyweights have been present in the Fulton County courtroom over the last two days to support District Attorney Fani Willis as she faces potential disqualification in former President Donald Trump's election interference case.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, a Democrat, was sitting close to the front row behind the DA's team Friday morning. “After seeing some of coverage last evening, the Mayor felt compelled to walk over to the Courthouse in a show of solidarity and have a presence there," Dickens’ press secretary said in a statement to CNN. 

At a news conference from City Hall after the hearing took a lunch break, Dickens said, “Women are under attack across this country, and she does not need to feel like she is alone.”

"We know who’s on trial, and it’s not her. It’s Donald Trump for attempting to steal an election," Dickens said. 

Asked if he believes that Willis has the support of Fulton County after her Thursday testimony, Dickens told CNN: “Yes. And certainly the City of Atlanta.”

Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, the first woman to hold the post, and Charlie Bailey, a 2022 candidate for Lt. Governor, also have attended the court proceedings.

African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Reginald Jackson, a spiritual adviser of Willis and head of an historic black church in the Atlanta area, also was seen in court on Friday, as was Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP.

Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee has ruled that defense attorneys in the Georgia election subversion case can’t ask Nathan Wade’s former law partner, Terrence Bradley, about what Wade told him about his relationship with District Attorney Fani Willis.

McAfee said he would go over those conversations with Bradley, the former law partner who also represented Wade in his divorce, in a closed-door hearing without prosecutors or defense lawyers present. 

Defense attorneys had been trying to overcome Bradley’s claims of attorney-client privilege. Ashleigh Merchant, a defense attorney, wanted to introduce into evidence texts she exchanged with Bradley in 2023 about the relationship between Willis and Wade.

At one point, Merchant asked Bradley about a September text in which he declined to help her find someone who could provide a sworn statement about the relationship.

“Did I text you asking you if you knew who I could get an affidavit from about the affair and you responded, ‘No. No one would freely burn that bridge.’” 
“Yes, I do see that,” Bradley replied when Merchant showed him the texts.

Bradley testified that he has “no personal knowledge of when” Willis and Wade began their relationship outside of direct communications with Wade.

Donald Trump may be winning politically in Georgia this week by shifting attention to the personal lives of prosecutors pursuing the criminal case against him in Fulton County.

But his lawyers have also looked for opportunities like these in the criminal cases he faces to plant the seeds for a legal win later on by damaging prosecutors’ credibility enough to help him before a jury.

Trump has repeatedly tried to claim publicly, including in remarks outside of a Manhattan courtroom Thursday, that he is the victim of a Biden administration conspiracy. Defense teams sometimes aim for these types of smears of prosecutors to help them by seeping into the public consciousness. When it comes time to pick jurors, distrust in the justice system or prosecutors could help Trump if even one selected juror wants to acquit because of feelings the case wasn’t fair.

It’s called jury nullification — and it’s a flaw in the justice system that courts strenuously try to avoid in the courtroom. However, a nullified jury — unwilling to vote based on the facts of the case before them — can pop up sometimes, especially in high-profile or controversial cases.

It still remains to be seen, however, if the most immediate fallout of the Fani Willis and Nathan Wade situation is the top prosecutors’ removal from the Trump case, which could potentially derail a trial indefinitely.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis reemerged in the spotlight last year after her office charged 19 co-defendants, including Donald Trump, regarding efforts by the former president and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

She campaigned on the premise of restoring integrity to the Fulton County district attorney’s office, was elected after ousting six-term incumbent Paul Howard and inherited a stack of backlogged cases.

Within a month, her office was firing off letters to Georgia officials asking them to preserve documents related to attempts to influence the state’s 2020 election.

Besides leading the election subversion probe, Willis has also brought anti-corruption indictments against Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug and his associates. The district attorney has spoken fondly of RICO – the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – and has used it in unorthodox ways to bring charges against school officials and musicians, including Young Thug.

From California by way of Washington, DC, Willis obtained her undergraduate degree from Howard University in 1992 and graduated from Emory School of Law in 1996, according to her biography. Her name, Fani, is Swahili and means “prosperous,” and her father was a lawyer and Black Panther.

According to a South Atlanta Magazine profile, she worked in the private sector for five years before becoming assistant district attorney for Fulton County in 2001.

Read more about Fulton County’s first female district attorney.

The court has resumed after taking a break.

John Floyd, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' father, testified on Friday that he and his daughter experienced "nightmarish threats" after she was sworn in as district attorney.

Floyd began his testimony by discussing how Willis was forced to move from her home after a group of people harassed her and sent her death threats.

"The South Fulton police brought a man with a dog, because there were so many death threats," he said passionately. "They said they were going to blow up the house, they said they were going to kill her, kill me, kill her grandchildren."

Once Willis moved, she kept the location of her new home secret from her father due to the threats, he testified.

They have seen each other rarely since, only "13 times" since she left her original home, and for no more than three hours each time, due to the danger.

"It's hard for me to talk about," Floyd said. 

John Floyd, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ father, testified Friday that he taught his daughter to “hide cash” in case she needed it.

Defense attorneys had pushed Willis over why she would keep a prevalence of cash in her home, which she said used to pay Nathan Wade back for various expenses. Floyd’s testimony corroborates Willis’ statements that she was taught to always have cash handy.

“Maybe, and excuse me your honor, I’m not trying to be racist, but it’s a black thing,” Floyd said. “I was trained, and most black folks, they hide cash or they keep cash, and I was trained you always keep some cash.”

“I gave my daughter her first cash box and told her, ‘always keep some cash,’” Floyd said.

Floyd referenced a time he had trouble paying for his meal at a restaurant several years ago to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“I had a American Express credit card and maybe a Visa,” Floyd said, as well as “a lot of what they call traveler’s checks.”

“For whatever reasons the man would not take my American Express credit card,” Floyd said. “So, I pulled out my Visa card, and he wouldn’t take my Visa card. So then I pulled out my traveler’s checks, and he said ‘we don’t take checks.’"

“The bill for my wife at the time … Fani and myself was like $9.95, I had a $10 bill. And I always remember that,” he said.