OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
On Sunday, Georgetown University law school professor and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley broke down Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ courtroom testimony from last week following allegations that she had an improper relationship with a special prosecutor she hired to help with her case against former President Donald Trump.
Turley addressed claims that Willis and the prosecutor, Nathan Wade, made false statements to the court about the beginning of their relationship, as well as allegations that the two of them used public funds to take opulent vacations together.
“The astonishing thing about this is that you have two prosecutors who stand accused of filing false statements in court,” said Turley. “Mr. Wade is accused of answering interrogatories falsely. And Willis is accused of making false statements in her filings. That’s what they’re prosecuting defendants in the case for.”
“My question is, will he refer these two to the bar? There are allegations of false statements being filed. Their testimony did not help in that respect. And so will [Judge Scott McAfee] say, ‘Look, I’m going to suggest that one or both of you remove yourselves or maybe even order it, but I am also going to ask the bar to look into these allegations’?”
WATCH:
Co-defendant Michael Roman’s attorneys claimed in a 122-page filing earlier this month that they had a witness whose testimony contradicted Willis’ denials regarding the timeline of her relationship with Wade after she claimed it started after she appointed him as a special prosecutor in the investigation into Trump’s attempts to challenge the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
In response to a motion by Roman’s attorneys filed on January 8 seeking her disqualification from the case, Willis acknowledged her relationship with Wade in a 176-page court filing on February 2.
NEW: In a new filing, Mike Roman alleges that Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade misrepresented details about their personal relationship and Wade's appointment as special prosecutor.https://t.co/gA3sj1Qoz4
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) February 9, 2024
In their filing, Roman’s attorneys named a friend of Wade who could corroborate that the relationship began before Willis assumed the role of district attorney, contradicting claims made by Wade in an affidavit attached to Willis’s filing on February 2, wherein he asserted that the relationship did not begin before 2022.
“Willis and Wade claim they did not have a personal, romantic relationship before Willis appointed Wade as a special prosecutor, but Terrence Bradley (‘Bradley’) will refute that claim,” Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, said in the filing, according to the Daily Caller.
“Bradley is an attorney and a member of the Georgia Bar. Bradley and Wade were friends and business associates. Bradley has non-privileged, personal knowledge that the romantic relationship between Wade and Willis began before Willis being sworn as the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, in January 2021,” the filing continued, per the outlet.
In Friday’s filing, Merchant also revealed two previously undisclosed trips that Wade and Willis took together: a Bahamas cruise in December 2022 and a trip to Belize in March 2023.
During her testimony last week, McAfee was forced to call for a five-minute break during the hearing after Willis lost her temper during questioning by defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant after the two clashed over claims that Willis kept up to $15,000 in cash at her home, which she said she used to reimburse Wade for half the trip expenses — and which left no paper trail.
When asked if Wade had ever been to her house, Willis became defensive and began displaying documents as evidence that the accusations were untrue.
“So let’s be clear ’cause you lied in this … let me tell you which one you lied in … Right here. I think you lied right here.” Willis said, raising the documents.
The judge slammed the gavel and tried to stop her as an unknown man began talking over her as well.
“No, no, no, this is the truth,” she exclaimed. “It is a lie! It is a lie!”
After the five-minute break, McAfee asked both attorneys to stop “talking over one another” and warned Willis, “We have to listen to the questions as asked… and if this happens again and again, I’m going to have no choice but to strike your testimony.”
