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A self-described former "good friend" of Fani Willis has said that the Fulton County District Attorney started dating the special prosecutor she hired to prosecute former president Donald Trump's Georgia election interference case in 2019.
Robin Bryant-Yeartie testified that Willis and Nathan Wade began dating shortly after meeting at a conference in late 2019, contradicting their assertion that the relationship did not begin until after Wade was hired to work on the case in 2021.
Bryant-Yeartie said she has "no doubt" that the romantic relationship began before Wade was hired by Willis' office.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee scheduled the hearing on Thursday to hear arguments over whether Willis should be disqualified from the case because of a "personal relationship" with attorney Wade.
Willis denies any claims of misconduct.
"You have no doubt that their romantic relationship was in effect from 2019 until the last time you spoke with her?" Alison Merchant, an attorney representing Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, asked Bryant-Yeartie.
The witness replied that she has "no doubt."
"And that's based on your personal observations and... speaking with them and seeing them together and things like that?" Merchant asked. "Yes," Bryant-Yeartie said.
Bryant-Yeartie said she was close friends with Willis after they met in college in the early 1990s. They stopped speaking in 2022 after Bryant-Yeartie was terminated from her job at the district attorney's office.
Earlier in Thursday's hearing, Terrence Bradley, who served for a time as Wade's divorce lawyer, refused to reveal whether he had any personal knowledge of when that relationship began.
He said he had consulted with the Georgia bar and could not discuss his communications with his former client. McAfee said Bradley was making "a broader representation of attorney-client privilege than I've ever heard."
Allegations of an inappropriate romantic relationship between Willis and Wade surfaced last month in a motion filed by Roman, a former Trump campaign staffer who was one of the 18 people who were charged alongside Trump over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election result in Georgia.
The motion alleges Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then benefited personally when he paid for vacations for the two of them, creating a conflict of interest.
Lawyers for Roman and other defendants are seeking to disqualify Willis and Wade from the case.
Willis and Wade acknowledged a "personal relationship" in a court filing earlier in February. They said the relationship began after Wade was hired for the case, and that it has not resulted in any direct or indirect financial benefit to the district attorney.
McAfee said during a hearing on Monday that Willis could be disqualified "if evidence is produced demonstrating an actual conflict or the appearance of one."
He said the issues he wants to explore at the hearing are "whether a relationship existed, whether that relationship was romantic or nonromantic in nature, when it formed and whether it continues."
About the writer
Khaleda Rahman is Newsweek's National Correspondent based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on education and national news. Khaleda ... Read more