Live updates: Fulton County prosecutor’s divorce attorney to testify in Fani Willis case | CNN Politics (2024)

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 damagingtestimony Tuesdayon her romantic relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade.

Instead, the lawyer, Terrence Bradley, said he did not recall when asked a number of key questions during the two-hour hearing in Atlanta.

Most notably, he said he did not know when the relationship began – and whether it began after Willis hired Wade to spearhead the prosecution of Donald Trump and his allies. Bradley said he was speculating about the timeline.

Here are some key takeaways from the hearing:

Read more about today’s hearing.

Terrence Bradley walks to the witness stand at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 27.

This hearing is about evidence Terrence Bradley might have had, and for the defense teams that called him to the stand, he didn’t deliver.

“He’d made some comments to you along the way that led you to believe he had more knowledge than today he’s testifying that he had,” Judge Scott McAfee said bluntly to defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant on Tuesday afternoon.

Merchant and other defense lawyers in the Georgia election subversion case have been trying to stand up, with days of evidence and witness testimony, allegations that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the lead prosecutor she hired for the Trump case, Nathan Wade, began an ethically dubious relationship earlier than they’ve said. Both have testified the relationship started after Wade joined Willis’ office in late 2021.

Bradley, a hesitant witness, was finally forced on Tuesday to speak about the years of 2015 to 2022, when he was Wade’s law partner and divorce lawyer.

Bradley had chatted with Merchant over text in recent months about the Wade-Willis relationship starting earlier than that, according to Tuesday’s proceeding.

Merchant recounted in court she had texted Bradley, “‘Do you think it started before she hired him?’ And you said, ‘Absolutely.”

“Do you recall me asking how they would react? Would they attack me? And you told me that they would deny it,” Merchant added.

To that, though, Bradley testified repeatedly he was just speculating.

The defense lawyers, one after another in court, grew frustrated — and confirmed with Bradley he had no direct conversations with Wade or proof of the prosecutors’ relationship beginning more than two years ago.

He said he remembers only one conversation, at a time he can’t recall, that Wade told him Wade and Willis were dating.

Terrence Bradley’s testimony has concluded and the hearing has ended.

Bradley testified Tuesday that he did not know when his former client Nathan Wade’s relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began and that he was merely speculating when he told a defense attorney it started before Willis hired Wade to lead the investigation into Donald Trump and others.

One of the Fulton County defense attorneys called out Terrence Bradley’s use of the word “speculation” when he tried to explain during his testimony Tuesday why he told another attorney when Nathan Wade’s relationship began with District Attorney Fani Willis.

Earlier Tuesday, Bradley, Wade’s onetime divorce attorney, said he was “speculating” when he told defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant when Wade began dating Willis.

“When you told me that their relationship started when she left the DA’s office and was a judge in South Fulton, where did you obtain that information from?” Merchant, who represents Mike Roman, asked Bradley.

“I was speculating, I didn’t have a – no one told me. I was speculating,” Bradley replied.

Defense attorneys are piling on to Terrence Bradley, questioning him as to why he would speculate or make up lies about his friend and former law partner Nathan Wade.

In one testy exchange, Richard Rice, an attorney for defendant Robert Cheeley, asked Bradley whether“as a normal course of your relationship with your friends, do you pass on lies about your friends?”

“Have I passed on lies about my friends, is that what you’re asking?” Bradley responded.

Bradley responded: “Have I told lies about my friends? I could have. I don’t know.”

“Do you pass on lies about your friends in a case of national importance?” Rice pushed.

Bradley repeated, “I could have. I don’t know.”

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee presides in court, on Tuesday, February 27.

Judge Scott McAfee appears to be taking many notes during the course ofTuesday’shearing.

McAfee was observed on more than one occasion writing down when Terrence Bradley, former attorney for Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade, said he eitherdidnot remember or could not recall details of Wade’s relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Donald Trump attorney Steve Sadow suggested Tuesday that if attorney Terrence Bradley testifies that he knew from Nathan Wade that the Fulton County prosecutor’s relationship began with District Attorney Fani Willis before the pair said it did, it would show that they lied under oath.

“Mr. Bradley, you realize that if you were to testify under oath that you knew from Mr. Wade that the relationship between him and Ms. Willis existed before the contract in November 1 of 2021, that if you testified that you knew that from Mr. Wade, that would show that both Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade had lied under oath. You know, that don’t you,” Sadow said.

Before Bradley could respond, Judge Scott McAfee interjected to say that such a finding would “call for an opinion on the credibility of another testifying witness.”

Terrence Bradley, special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s former law partner and onetime divorce attorney, testifies in court Tuesday, February 27.

Donald Trump’s defense attorney, Steve Sadow, pushed Terrence Bradley over why he would “speculate” that Nathan Wade and Fani Willis were in a relationship as far back as 2019. Sadow cited Bradley’s earlier testimony in which he said he was “speculating” in text messages with defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who first brought the allegations of Wade and Willis’ relationship into court, when he said that Wade and Willis started dating at a judges’ conference in 2019.

“I don’t recall why I felt that it started at that time, but I do recall that he only met her – and I testified to that – that he met her at that [judges’] conference in 2019,” Bradley said, adding that he did not hear anything about the relationship from Wade that would lead him to that belief.

“Why would you speculate when she was asking you a direct question about when the relationship started?” Sadow pushed.

“Except for the fact that you do, in fact, know when it started and you don’t want to testify to that in court,” Sadow shot back. “That’s the best explanation.”

Terrence Bradley testified Tuesday that he remembers having only one conversation about the romantic relationship between Nathan Wade and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over the more than four years he acted as Wade’s divorce attorney.

Under questioning from Donald Trump’s attorney, Steve Sadow, Bradley said he represented Wade, the special prosecutor Willis hired to lead the Georgia election subversion case, between 2018 and mid-2022.

During that time, Bradley said, he had one conversation with Wade in their shared law office about the relationship.

“You’re testifying under oath that you had one conversation about a relationship between Mr. Wade and Miss Willis?” Sadow asked. “Is that correct?”

“Is it your testimony then, that you don’t remember any other conversation or there wasn’t any other conversation besides the one?” Sadow asked.

Bradley said he believed that “it was the one” but that he did not determinately remember whether there were others.

Attorney Ashleigh Merchant looks over documents in court Tuesday, February 27.

Nathan Wade’s former lawyer and law partner testified that he previously told defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant that the relationship between Nathan Wade and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis started before Willis hired him to lead the case against Donald Trump and others.

“Do you recall me asking you, ‘Do you think it started before she hired him?’ And you said, ‘Absolutely.’ Do you recall that?” Merchant asked Terrence Bradley.

“I see that in the text messages, yes,” Bradley said of the messages between him and Merchant.

“Do you recall me asking how they would react? Would they attack me? And you told me that they would deny it,” Merchant asked.

“That’s written in there, correct,” Bradley said of the text messages.

Earlier, Bradley said he was “speculating” about the timing of the relationship.

Terrence Bradley listens to attorney Steve Sadow via a video link, at right on monitor, in court, Tuesday, February 27.

Steven Sadow, Donald Trump’s defense attorney, is now questioning Terrence Bradley.

Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for Trump co-defendant Mike Roman, concluded her direct examination of Bradley, the former attorney of the top prosecutor in the Fulton County election subversion case, over the timing of the relationship between Nathan Wade and District Attorney Fani Willis.

Merchant’s last question of Bradley was whether there was any testimony from today or the last hearing he wants to correct. Bradley answered “no.”

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.

Terrence Bradley, Special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s former law partner and onetime divorce attorney, testifies in court Tuesday, February 27.

Nathan Wade’s former divorce attorney said Tuesday that he was “speculating” when he told a defense attorney in the Fulton County election case when Wade began dating District Attorney Fani Willis.

“When you told me that their relationship started when she left the DA’s office and was a judge in South Fulton, where did you obtain that information from?” defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Mike Roman, asked Terrence Bradley.

Bradley has previously acknowledged that Merchant sent him a copy of her motion to dismiss Willis days before she filed it in January. That filing leveled allegations that Willis and Wade engaged in an improper romantic relationship from which Willis financially benefited.

“I said, ‘looks good,’” Bradley said earlier this month of his response via text to Merchant regarding her motion.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Terrence Bradley continued to say he could not recall when he learned of the relationship between Nathan Wade and District Attorney Fani Willis, who hired Wade to lead the investigation into Donald Trump and others.

“I don’t recall any specific dates,” said Bradley, Wade’s former law partner and divorce lawyer. “I don’t have anything — it wasn’t a specific date … there wasn’t something I can attribute to him telling me whatever. You are asking for a date, asking for a year … and I am telling you at this time … that I do not have the date.”

Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant asked whether the relationship began by January 2021, and Bradley again said he did not recall when he learned of the relationship.

Terrence Bradley, the former law partner and divorce attorney for special prosecutor Nathan Wade, takes the stand on Tuesday, February 27.

The former law partner of Nathan Wade, the lead Georgia prosecutor in the case against Donald Trump and others, denied having knowledge of when Wade began dating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Defense attorneys in the case have alleged that Willis and Wade’s relationship was improper and that Willis financially benefitted from hiring Wade after the two took several vacations together.

The judge presiding over the case ruled that Bradley’s knowledge of the relationship between Wade and Willis wasn’t covered by attorney-client privilege. Bradley previously represented Wade in his divorce.

The expected testimony on Tuesday from Terrence Bradley, the former law partner and divorce attorney for special prosecutor Nathan Wade, could be a consequential moment in the Fulton County case.

Both Willis and Wade have testified under oath that their relationship did not turn romantic until early 2022, after he was hired as a special prosecutor on the Georgia election subversion case in November 2021.

Bradley has previously acknowledged that defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant sent him a copy of her motion to dismiss District Attorney Fani Willis days before she filed it in January. That 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.

Merchant, representing Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, wanted to introduce into evidence texts she exchanged with Bradley in 2023 about the relationship between Willis and Wade. At one point during a hearing earlier this month, 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.

“Bradley has non-privileged, personal knowledge that the romantic relationship between Wade and Willis began prior to Willis being sworn as the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia in January 2021,” according to a previous court filing from Merchant.

Judge Scott McAfee, who will decide the future of the prosecution in the election subversion case against Donald Trump and more than a dozen others, is celebrating his one-year anniversary on the bench.

McAfeebecamea Fulton County Superior Court judge in February 2023 after a career in which he has worked as a prosecutor and state inspector general, where he was “responsible for investigating allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse in the Executive Branch of state government.”

Prior to his inspector general role, he worked as the assistant United States attorney in the Northern District of Georgia and as senior assistant district attorney in the Fulton County Atlanta Judicial Circuit. In those positions, he prosecuted cases on drug trafficking, fraud, armed robbery and murder.

After spending more than two hours tasting wine at a Napa Valley estate with her top prosecutor on the Georgia election subversion case, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis reached into her purse and pulled out about $400 in cash.

Willis used the money to pay for two bottles of wine — each valued at roughly $150 — and the $50 tasting, according to Stan Brody, who said he hosted Willis and a guest he later learned was Nathan Wade, at Acumen Wines in early 2023.

Brody, who was the estate ambassador for Acumen Wines that day, told CNN he was surprised when Willis paid using hundreds of dollars in cash — a memorable transaction, he said, as such cash sales are rare in Napa Valley. The self-described “news junkie” said his memory was jogged as he watchedWillis and Wade testifyabout their romantic relationship and bat down allegations of self-dealing while under oath.

Willis testified that her use of cash explains why there is no paper trail documenting reciprocal payments she made during her trips with Wade.

Brody’s account corroborates at least part of that testimony and lends credibility to Willis’ argument that her cash expenditures show she did not benefit financially from her relationship with Wade and thus she should not be disqualified from the case. Willis’ father, John Floyd,testified at lengthabout his longtime recommendation that his daughter keep cash around.

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

Besides leading the election subversion probe, Willis has also brought anti-corruption indictments against Grammy-winning rapperYoung Thugand 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 aSouth Atlanta Magazineprofile, she worked in the private sector for five years before becoming assistant district attorney for Fulton County in 2001.

Legal experts say questions about whether Fani Willis and Nathan Wade were truthful about when their relationship started is certainly a potential problem but may not be enough, on its own, to have her disqualified from the case.

However, it doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be a major impact.

“If that is proven to be false, I’m still not sure it qualifies as sufficient to disqualify her, but there are other potential sanctions,” he added.