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☆ Judge threatens to kick DA Fani Willis off Trump's Georgia election interference case if top prosecutor doesn't step aside
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Haven Orecchio-Egresitz | Natalie Musumeci | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A judge issued a disqualification ruling in Fulton County DA Fani Willis from Trump's election interference case. AdvertisementA Georgia judge has ruled that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can continue to oversee former President Donald Trump's historic state election interference case — but only if her top prosecutor steps aside. Related storiesThey both testified at a February 15 evidentiary hearing that the District Attorney has always been fiercely financially independent and paid her own way. The mere appearance of a conflict was strong enough to require removing either Wade or Willis from the case, he wrote. The judge gave District Attorney Fani Willis an option to recuse herself and her office, or for her top prosecutor to withdraw from the case.

Persons: Fani Willis, Willis, Mike Roman, —, Donald Trump's, Scott McAfee's, Nathan Wade, McAfee, Wade, SADA Wade, Ashleigh Merchant, Trump's codefendant Mike Roman, Merchant, Trump, Terrence Bradley, Bradley, Terrance Bradley, John Merchant, Adam Abbate, Abbate Organizations: Fulton, Trump, Service, State, Attorney, Roman, DAs Locations: Fulton County, Georgia, Atlanta, Trump's Georgia

☆ Trump DA Fani Willis' credibility has been shot over messy testimony — but perjury charges are very unlikely: legal experts
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

DA Fani Willis' credibility has been damaged following a misconduct hearing, legal experts said. Willis' 'credibility is shot'Legal experts have long said that the hearing, and the relationship between Willis and Wade, doesn't look good for Willis. Rahmani said the distraction of it all is enough that Willis should recuse herself from the Trump case. On trips they took together, Willis and Wade testified that Willis paid Wade back for her portion in cash. Ms. Yeager heard District Attorney Willis tell Mr. Bradley: 'They are coming after us.

Persons: Fani Willis, Willis, Donald Trump, —, Trump, Wade, it's, Rahmani, Ashleigh Merchant, Trump codefendant Mike Roman, Nathan Wade, Wade —, Daysha Young, Andrew Evans, Alex Slitz, doesn't, Sarah Krissoff, Cozen O'Connor, Krissoff, Scott McAfee, McAfee, Terrence Bradley, Merchant, Bradley, Manny Arora, Cindi Lee Yeager, Cobb County , Georgia —, Trump codefendant David Shafer, Yeager, John Bazemore, Elijah Nouvelage, Mr, Trump codefendant Cathleen Latham, Arora —, Kenneth Chesebro, Arora, Adam Abbate, Abbate Organizations: Service, Fulton, West, Trial, Trump codefendant, Trump, codefendants, Merchant, Wade, Business, USA, Network, Reuters, District Attorney, AP, Washington Post Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, California, Atlanta, Manhattan, Fulton, Cobb County , Georgia

☆ Lawyers Offer New Witness in Effort to Disqualify Trump Prosecutors in Georgia
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Richard Fausset | Danny Hakim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Defense lawyers in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump say they want to put someone on the stand whose testimony could back up their assertion that Terrence Bradley, a witness in their effort to disqualify the prosecutors running the case, gave misleading testimony. The new information comes from Cindi Lee Yeager, a deputy district attorney in neighboring Cobb County, Ga., whom the defense lawyers said they spoke to on Friday about conversations she has had with Mr. Bradley. At issue is a key matter in the disqualification effort: the timing of the romantic relationship that developed between Fani T. Willis, who as the Fulton County district attorney is leading the prosecution of Mr. Trump, and Nathan Wade, the Atlanta-area lawyer she hired to manage the case. Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade have said that a romance developed between them after she hired him in November 2021. But the defense lawyers have tried to prove the romantic relationship started earlier.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Terrence Bradley, Cindi Lee Yeager, Bradley, Willis, Nathan Wade, Mr, Wade Locations: Georgia, Cobb County ,, Fulton County, Atlanta

In Florida, Trump’s attorneys told Judge Aileen Cannon his Mar-a-Lago classified documents case should wait until after the 2024 election. But both hearings could have a significant impact on when – or whether – Trump will face trial in each of those two cases. The only case that appears set: Trump’s New York criminal trial will begin March 25, which Trump’s attorneys said was a “firm” date in court Friday. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis attends a hearing on the Georgia election interference case on Friday in Atlanta. When Trump’s attorneys argued for the hearing, Cannon pushed them to describe how they could narrow its scope and asked them to lay out specifically what a hearing would examine.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Aileen Cannon, Scott McAfee, Fani Willis, Nathan Wade, – Trump, Jack Smith’s, Willis, Wade, McAfee, Craig Gillen, Alex Slitz, “ We’ve, ”, Gillen, David Shafer, “, ” Gillen, Cannon, Jack Smith, –, Todd Blanche, ” Blanche, Jay Bratt, ” Bratt, ” Cannon, Trump, David Harbach, Biden, Harbach, Emil Bove, ” McAfee, Terrence Bradley, Donald Trump, Steve Sadow, Bradley –, What’s, they’ve, They’ve, Sadow, Bradley, ” Sadow Organizations: CNN, Trump, Fulton, Georgia Republican, “ Prosecutors, ”, Justice Department, Prosecutors, Biden White, FBI Locations: Florida, Georgia, Fulton County, Washington, York, Atlanta

In Florida, meanwhile, a federal judge could push back Trump’s trial date in the classified documents case. Special Counsel Jack Smith and attorneys for Trump proposed moving the trial later into the summer in court filings Thursday. For Friday’s hearing in the documents case, scheduled for 10 a.m. Smith has highlighted a myriad of threats made against individuals connected to the documents case, including witnesses, government employees, an FBI agent involved in the initial Mar-a-Lago search and two federal judges, including Cannon herself. Attorneys for Trump and his allies are expected to argue that Wade and Willis lied under oath about when their relationship started.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Fani Willis, Aileen Cannon, Joe Biden’s, Jack Smith, Smith, Walt Nauta, Carlos De Oliviera, De Oliviera’s, Cannon, —, Biden, – Nauta, De Oliveira, –, Willis, Scott McAfee, Nathan Wade, Wade, McAfee, Charles Mittelstadt, Terrence Bradley, Bradley, Ashleigh Merchant, Merchant Organizations: CNN, Trump —, White, National Security Council, Prosecutors, Trump Locations: Georgia, Florida, Fulton County, California, Belize, Caribbean

☆ Texts Show Witness Readily Helped Build a Case to Disqualify Trump Prosecutors
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Richard Fausset | Danny Hakim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Terrence Bradley, an Atlanta-area lawyer, had been billed as the star witness in the effort to disqualify Fani T. Willis, the district attorney leading the election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump in Georgia. But when Mr. Bradley took the stand this week — and twice earlier this month — he was a deeply reluctant witness. His testimony did little to resolve a question at the heart of the defense’s attempt to show that Ms. Willis had an untenable conflict of interest: Whether the romantic relationship between Ms. Willis and Nathan Wade, the lawyer she hired to help run the Trump case, began before or after he joined her staff. But hundreds of text messages obtained by The New York Times show that Mr. Bradley, a former law partner and friend of Mr. Wade, helped a defense lawyer to expose the relationship between the two prosecutors. The texts reveal that Mr. Bradley, who served for a time as Mr. Wade’s divorce lawyer until the two men had a bitter falling-out, assisted the effort to reveal the romance and provide details about it for at least four months — countering the impression he left on the witness stand that he had known next to nothing about the romance.

Persons: Terrence Bradley, Fani, Willis, Donald J, Trump, Bradley, Nathan Wade, Mr, Wade, Wade’s Organizations: Trump, The New York Times Locations: Atlanta, Georgia

The text messages raise questions about Bradley’s credibility, and the degree to which Merchant appeared to rely on his claims that she was then unable to substantiate elsewhere. Wade and Willis have admitted to being romantically involved, but both have testified their relationship started after Willis appointed Wade lead prosecutor in the Trump case. Merchant had said that he would contradict testimony from Willis and Wade once he took the stand. “Why would you speculate when she was asking you a direct question about when the relationship started?” Sadow pushed. The additional text messages show Bradley calling Merchant his “friend,” offering unsolicited advice, and also bashing Willis and Wade, Bradley’s former law partner.

Persons: Fani Willis, Donald Trump, Terrence Bradley, Ashleigh Merchant, Trump’s, Bradley, Willis, Nathan Wade, Wade, Bradley’s, Merchant, Trump, ”, Steve Sadow, ” Sadow, ” Bradley, “, Merchant ., ” Merchant, ” “, Michael Moore, Scott McAfee, ” Moore Organizations: CNN, Trump, Merchant Locations: Georgia, Wade’s

☆ Live updates: Fulton County prosecutor's divorce attorney to testify in Fani Willis case
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Dan Berman | Zachary Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

Terrence Bradley, the former law partner for Nathan Wade, testified Tuesday that when he told a defense attorney her motion to dismiss Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis “looks good,” he was referring to a section about money related to his law firm, not about the allegations against Wade and Willis. “I think I remember there was a line of, about the accuracy of how much money that my office … had received and whether or not that was going to be in the motion or not,” Bradley said. Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant said she asked Bradley to review her motion, which alleged an improper relationship between Willis and Wade, whom Willis hired to lead the investigation into Donald Trump and others.

Persons: Terrence Bradley, Nathan Wade, Fani Willis “, Wade, Willis, “, …, ” Bradley, Ashleigh Merchant, Bradley, Donald Trump Organizations: Fulton

CNN —A Georgia lawyer who had been billed as a star witness in the effort to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis did not deliver damaging testimony Tuesday on her romantic relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade. “I do not have knowledge of it starting, or when it started,” Bradley said at one point. That filing leveled allegations that Willis and Wade engaged in an improper romantic relationship from which Willis financially benefited. “Why would you speculate when she was asking you a direct question about when the relationship started?” Sadow pushed. That means attorneys can use it to bolster their legal arguments about whether Willis should be disqualified without witness testimony.

Persons: CNN —, Fani Willis, Nathan Wade, Terrence Bradley, Willis, Wade, Donald Trump, Bradley, –, “, ” Bradley, ” Ashleigh Merchant, ” Merchant, Scott McAfee, CNN’s Nick Valencia, ’ Bradley, Merchant, Willis ’, ‘, ’ ” Bradley, “ Mr, Richard Rice, ” Trump, Steve Sadow, ” Sadow, ’, McAfee Organizations: CNN, Fulton, Trump, Bradley Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, South Fulton

☆ Ex-partner of Trump's Georgia prosecutor once texted that DA Fani Willis 'absolutely' started dating Nathan Wade before he was hired
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AdvertisementFulton County DA Fani Willis testifies at a hearing Feb. 15 in Atlanta on her relationship with Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade. And you said, 'absolutely,'" Merchant questioned Bradley, referring to the timing of Willis and Wade's relationship. AdvertisementFulton County Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade testifies during a hearing at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 15, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. "Why would you speculate when she was asking you a direct question about when the relationship started?" AdvertisementWillis vehemently defended herself and Wade and pushed back on testimony by her former friend that she and Wade started dating in 2019.

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Terrence Bradley, Nathan Wade, Fani Willis, Willis, Trump, Mike Roman, Wade, Bradley, Ashleigh Merchant —, Merchant, Alyssa Pointer, Steve Sadow, Sadow Organizations: Service, Fulton, Business, Trump, Fulton County DA, Bradley Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, Wade, Atlanta, Fulton, Atlanta , Georgia, Trump, Trump's Georgia

☆ Testimony to Resume as Trump and Georgia Co-Defendants Seek D.A.’s Removal
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Richard Fausset | Danny Hakim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald J. Trump has ordered a key witness back to the stand, as the judge weighs whether Fani T. Willis, the prosecutor who brought the case, has a disqualifying conflict of interest. The witness is Terrence Bradley, the former divorce lawyer and law partner of Nathan Wade, whom Ms. Willis hired to manage the Trump case. The ruling on Monday by Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Superior Court is a victory for Mr. Trump and his 14 co-defendants, as they seek to have Ms. Willis, Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis’s entire office removed from the high-stakes case. The defense questioned Mr. Bradley during a court hearing earlier this month, in an attempt to find out whether Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis were being truthful about key details of a romantic relationship that developed between them, including their assertion that the romance began after Mr. Wade began working for Ms. Willis in November 2021. Mr. Bradley declined at that time to answer questions related to what he knew about the romance, citing attorney-client privilege and other rules that shield lawyers from having to disclose communications with clients.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Willis, Terrence Bradley, Nathan Wade, Judge Scott McAfee, Mr, Wade, Willis’s, Bradley Organizations: Fulton County Superior, Mr Locations: Georgia, Fulton County

Friday’s filing from Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the Georgia case, included an affidavit from a criminal defense investigator who said he relied on subpoenaed cell phone information and cell tower data. The investigator, Charles Mittelstadt, said he generated a report that isolated “all interactions,” including calls and text messages between Wade and Willis. (Trump’s attorney submitted a new filing Friday afternoon to clarify the types of exchanges between Wade and Willis.) In addition, Willis and Wade exchanged phone calls late into the evenings during this time, the investigator says, citing Wade’s subpoenaed cell phone data. This story has been updated with the revised filing from Trump’s attorneys, referring to 12,000 “interactions” between Wade and Willis.

Persons: Donald Trump, Fani Willis, Nathan Wade, Willis, Wade, Steve Sadow, Trump’s, Charles Mittelstadt, “, ”, Mittelstadt, Wade’s, ” Wade, Trump, Scott McAfee, McAfee, Terrence Bradley, Bradley Organizations: CNN, Trump Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, Fulton

CNN —A hearing that could derail the election subversion case against Donald Trump and others in Georgia is underway as a judge considers whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified. It’s unclear if another prosecutor in Georgia would even be inclined to take up the case from Willis, given its political and legal challenges. Wade and Willis acknowledged in court filings that they had a personal relationship but deny any wrongdoing. McAfee called for the hearing Thursday to “establish the record on those core allegations” against Willis and Wade and their relationship. “We are focusing on what the judge asked us to show him – the personal and financial benefits that Willis got from Wade,” Merchant told CNN.

Persons: Donald Trump, Fani Willis, Trump, Willis, Nathan Wade, disqualifying Willis, Wade, there’s, Willis’s, Scott McAfee, McAfee, “, ” McAfee, ”, Trump’s, Mike Roman, Wade’s, San, Ashleigh Merchant, ” Merchant, ’, Merchant, Roman –, Terrence Bradley, Bradley, “ Bradley, Peter Skandalakis, ” Skandalakis, Norm Eisen, Obama, Eisen Organizations: CNN, Georgia RICO, Miami, Trump, Merchant –, ’, of Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, San Francisco, Wade, Fulton, of Georgia

☆ Fani Willis' workplace romance — and just how inappropriate it is — takes center stage in Trump's Georgia criminal case
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Haven Orecchio-Egresitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

These accusations have taken center stage in Trump's criminal prosecution, with Roman's team issuing subpoenas to Wade, Willis, and half a dozen witnesses who have worked with them. The center of Thursday's hearing will be whether either prosecutor has a conflict of interest in the case. Roman's attorneys must prove that Willis acquired a personal interest or stake in the defendant's conviction — and that it is "actual conflict" and not simply speculative. Her lawyers have written that no financial or personal conflict of interest justifies disqualification — and pointed to two ongoing relationships between defense attorneys in the case. Attorneys for Willis and Wade asked McAfee to keep them both off the witness stand on Thursday.

Persons: —, Nathan Wade —, Fani Willis, Donald Trump, Wade, Willis, Mike Roman, Trump, codefendant, Scott McAfee, John C, Floyd III, Nathan Wade, John Bazemore, Elijah Nouvelage, McAfee, Terrence Bradley, Ashleigh Merchant, Bradley, Natalie Musumeci Organizations: Service, Fulton, DA, Business, luxe, AP, Washington Post, Attorney Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, Aruba, Belize

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