New details reveal how Fani Willis, Nathan Wade relationship was exposed (2024)

Attorney Ashleigh Merchant revealed new details about how she uncovered the relationship between Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade, including what Wade's former law partner Terrence Bradley thought of his divorce and why she first began investigating the two.

"Nathan was still married and Mr. Bradley was upset because of what happened in the divorce. He was upset because [Wade and his now-ex-wife] were still married," Merchant said in her testimony Wednesday to the Georgia Senate committee investigating Willis, the Fulton County DA. Willis led the investigation in Georgia's election interference case against Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants, including Merchant's client.

"The Wades were still married, and [Nathan] essentially just left her after meeting Ms. Willis and dropping the kids off at college," Merchant said.

"[Bradley] did not like the way [Wade] had treated his wife," she continued. "He didn't like what was happening in the divorce proceedings. I remember specifically him saying, 'I handle my business,' things like that, like, 'I don't leave my wife without alimony' because...," Merchant continued.

"Ms. Wade had been a stay-at-home mom for—they'd been married for almost 30 years, and it was literally right after they dropped their youngest off at college that [Wade] said, 'Move out,'" Merchant said.

Merchant, who is representing Michael Roman, a former Trump official, first revealed that Willis and Wade, whom the DA hired as the Georgia case's lead prosecutor, are in a romantic relationship when she filed a January 8 motion seeking to disqualify Willis and her office from the case. Merchant is the first person to be subpoenaed by the legislative panel.

Georgia's election case against Trump and his 18 allies has been upended ever since Merchant's explosive claim about Willis and Wade. The couple have since admitted to being in a relationship, although they maintain that it did not begin until after Wade was hired by Willis.

The defense, however, argues that they were together before Wade was appointed as a special prosecutor. It also claims that Willis misused state funds by paying Wade with money that the couple later used to take vacations together.

Asked about how she first learned of the relationship between Willis and Wade, Merchant said Wade's appointment to the case against had shocked Atlanta's legal community.

"A lot of people in the community were surprised to see Nathan, Mr. Wade, handling this case," Merchant told legislators. "A lot of people said that. So a lot of people were talking about that, and it was kind of surprising. He does a lot of law practice, but this isn't what you would imagine him doing."

She said Bradley had approached her in early September and asked what she was investigating. After relaying that she could not advise him because of a conflict of interest, she ran into him in a courtroom, where he revealed "what's really happening" between Willis and Wade.

"He said that they met a judicial conference before—he was very specific that it was before—[Willis] became DA," Merchant testified. "He couldn't remember when the judicial conference was, but he knew that it was before she became DA."

Willis was elected to her position in November 2020 and assumed office on January 1, 2021.

Merchant also said Bradley told her that Wade and Willis had met at hotels and an apartment in Hapeville, Georgia, and that they took trips to Texas, Florida, Belize and the Bahamas, travel that Merchant was able to later verify through credit card records and travel agency data. She said Bradley had advised her to reach out to Willis' former friend Robin Yeartie, a former liaison between the DA and news organizations, whom Willis had a falling-out with.

Yeartie testified against Willis at a hearing last month, saying there was "no doubt" that the relationship between Willis and Wade continued after she saw them hug and kiss in November 2021. That testimony undercut Wade's sworn affidavit claiming that their relationship did not begin until 2022.

"I joke about my investigator skills, [but] I've done public defense most of my career, you know, or pro bono. It's hard to get investigators, so I've learned how to do a lot of it on my own," Merchant said Wednesday.

"I compiled all the information Mr. Bradley gave me and then did various open records requests based on it. And then once I would get something I would reach out to him to verify."