Three witnesses testified in front of Granholm, including Mike Stefani, an attorney who represented police officers in a whistle-blower case against the city of Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The Free Press said Stefani told Granholm about how he obtained computer text messages that showed Kilpatrick and his former female chief of staff lied under oath in making a secret, taxpayer-funded settlement with the officers allegedly to keep private the incriminating text messages indicating they had an illicit affair.

Also testifying at the hearing was Detroit City Attorney Ellen Ha, who said she never saw the settlement document, even though such legal settlements between city officials and employees are supposed to be public information.

Wayne State University law professor Peter Hammer testified that there appeared to be both public and secret parts of the whistle-blower settlement documents released last October, the newspaper reported.