Trump Lawyers Say Fani Willis Should Testify Again After New Evidence

Donald Trump's lawyers have argued in a new filing on Sunday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should testify again in light of new evidence in her disqualification hearing.

The Context:

Willis and Nathan Wade, the prosecutor she hired in 2021 to lead the racketeering case against the former president, have been under fire for a personal relationship that ended in the summer of 2023. Trump and 18 co-defendants have been accused of conspiring to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election win in Georgia. The former president has plead not guilty to all charges and claimed that the case was politically motivated as he is the GOP frontrunner in the 2024 presidential election.

Last week, Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the case, held a series of hearings to determine if Willis and her office will be disqualified from the case due to the personal relationship between the district attorney and Wade. Trump and some of his co-defendants not only argued for the removal of Willis' office, but for the entire case to be dropped due to what they perceive as a conflict of interest. However, Willis and Wade have claimed that their relationship started in the spring of 2022 after Willis hired him and that neither have financially benefitted from it.

On Friday, Trump's lawyers filed a supplemental brief to McAfee, asking him to review new information including an affidavit from a private investigator, Charles Mittelstadt, who analyzed Wade's cellphone location data. The investigator said the data showed that in 2021, Wade arrived at Willis' home late at night twice and left in the early morning hours, once in September and the other in November.

What We Know:

In a new filing submitted on Sunday afternoon, Trump's lawyers argued against Willis' Friday night filing, in which she claimed that: "The records do not prove, in any way, the content of the communications between Special Prosecutor Wade and District Attorney Willis; they do not prove that Special Prosecutor Wade was ever at any particular location or address; they do not prove that Special Prosecutor Wade and District Attorney Willis were ever in the same place during any of the times listed."

Trump's lawyers wrote in response: "The prosecution will surely point out that nobody knows what was happening in the house between midnight and 3:28 a.m. on September 12, or between midnight and 5:00 a.m. on November 30. Mittelstadt does not claim to know. Neither does President Trump or any other defendant in this case."

They continued: "Only two people know. They are certainly the ones who should testify and say exactly what was happening on those occasions, so nobody will complain about improper speculation, or improper efforts to distort the truth, or nefarious contacts with the media."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's lawyer and Willis' office via email for comment.

Views:

Geraldo Rivera, longtime journalist and attorney, reacted to the new evidence on Friday, calling it an "earthquake."

"This powerful evidence in the motion to disqualify her office in the Georgia election interference case suggests their relationship started well before her sworn testimony stated it did," Rivera wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"This is exactly why you don't want your emotionally distraught client to take the witness stand under oath to defend their character," Rivera, who is a friend-turned-critic of Trump, added. "Media experts who rushed to cheer her on, saying she did great on the witness stand, don't know what they're talking about."

Jonathan Turley, an attorney and legal analyst, told Newsweek via email on Saturday that Willis and Wade should "step aside" in Trump's Georgia case, adding that their "problems are escalating."

What's Next?

McAfee has yet to decide whether to review the new evidence. Another hearing is scheduled for March 1, in which both parties will make their final arguments on the motion to disqualify Willis and her team.

Update 2/25/24, 5:12 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.

Update 2/25/24, 5:26 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.