A former friend of Ms. Willis testified that Ms. Willis began a relationship with Mr. Wade shortly after they met in 2019.
Special prosecutor Nathan Wade and a witness presented different timelines of Mr. Wade’s romantic relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis during a Feb. 15 evidentiary hearing on whether she may be disqualified from the high-profile state racketeering case involving former President Donald Trump.
President Trump and 18 co-defendants were indicted by a grand jury in August 2023; four of those defendants have taken plea deals. Some of the remaining defendants have now moved to disqualify Ms. Willis.
Ashleigh Merchant, defense attorney for Michael Roman, took the lead in questioning. Attorneys representing the district attorney’s office frequently interrupted with objections and made several attempts to renew motions to quash testimonies.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee denied the motions to quash and allowed several witnesses to testify.
In order for the defendants to succeed in their motion to disqualify, they would need to show that Ms. Willis has a conflict of interest in the case and benefited financially.
They claim the financial benefit stems from her romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor she appointed, Mr. Wade, who spent thousands on “lavish” vacations with her. Mr. Wade claims that she paid her share of expenses and there was no such benefit. He also contradicted the defense’s timeline of their relationship.
Witness Disputes Timeline
Robin Yeartie, a former longtime personal friend of Ms. Willis’s, testified that shortly after Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade met at a conference in 2019, they began a romantic relationship.
She said she had spoken to Ms. Willis regularly during their friendship and had seen Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade together on multiple occasions, in a clear romantic relationship that involved “hugging, kissing.”
Ms. Yeartie met Ms. Willis in the early 1990s in college and later worked in the district attorney’s office before resigning. She said she had been transferred to another department and didn’t like the situation. That led to a fallout with Ms. Willis on a personal basis as well.
“We never spoke after that,” Ms. Yeartie said.
