ATLANTA (NewsNation) — The judge in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump is hearing final legal arguments Friday over whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be removed from the prosecution over a romantic relationship with another prosecutor on the case.
Attorneys for Trump and other defendants in the election case argue Willis’ romantic relationship with lead prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired, poses a conflict of interest. They allege Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then improperly benefited when he paid for vacations for the two of them.
Willis and Wade have acknowledged the relationship, which they said ended last summer, but they have argued it does not create any conflict and has no bearing on the case. They said they didn’t begin dating until spring 2022, after Wade was hired, and they split travel expenses.
Prosecutors are expected to assert that Willis and Wade did not use taxpayer dollars during their brief one-year relationship.
Lead defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant and her legal team will argue the opposite. They’ll depict an intimate relationship, witnessed by at least one friend who testified, that began years before the RICO charges were filed against Trump. Additionally, they’re expected to argue that Willis and Wade utilized taxpayer dollars for extravagant rendezvous and accuse them of perjury.
Over several months, Merchant had been in touch with Terrence Bradley, an ex-law partner and divorce attorney for Wade, according to hundreds of text messages produced by Merchant as evidence and obtained by The Associated Press.
Bradley, expected to be a key witness for lawyers trying to disqualify Willis, was at times evasive during testimony, saying he had “no direct knowledge of when the relationship started.”
After several days of testimony, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee heard details of Willis and Wade’s personal lives and conflicting accounts of when they started dating, but it remains unclear whether he will find the relationship caused a conflict of interest that merits removing the prosecutors from the case.
Legal experts are divided, with some suggesting that disqualification based strictly on the interpretation of Georgia law is a high bar to meet. However, it remains a possibility. It could still jeopardize the trial’s date, originally set to begin in August.
If Willis and her office are disqualified, a nonpartisan council supporting prosecuting attorneys in Georgia would be tasked with finding a new attorney to take over. That person could either proceed with some or all of the charges against Trump and others, or drop the case altogether.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
