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Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testified Thursday in a hearing over efforts by one of Donald Trump's co-defendants to remove her from the Georgia election interference case over an office romance. Willis took the stand in Atlanta after more than three hours of testimony from prosecutor Nathan Wade about their relationship. She remained on the stand for about two hours before the court broke for the day. The hearing will continue on Friday.
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Attorneys for Michael Roman, one of 19 defendants indicted on charges of trying to subvert Georgia's 2020 presidential election, filed a motion to have them ousted from the case because they were in a romantic relationship. Trump joined this motion that alleges they benefited financially through the relationship.
Willis and Wade testified separately on Thursday that their relationship ended prior to the indictment. Willis added that Wade was not her first choice to prosecute the election interference case.
Under questioning from Roman's attorney Ashleigh Merchant, Willis said requests, including flight records for trips she took with Wade, were intrusive.
"I object to you getting records. You've been intrusive into people's personal lives," Willis said. "You're confused. You think I'm on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020. I'm not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial."
Willis was allowed to watch the opening arguments in the hearing but was not allowed to watch Wade's testimony that took place earlier. She said she remained in her office pacing as she waited to take the stand.
Merchant questioned Willis about trips she and Wade had taken together and when their relationship began. Asked if she and Wade had discussed the motion to oust them from prosecuting the case, Willis said she may have had "choice words" but not a substantial discussion.
"I probably had some choice words about some of the things that you said that were dishonest within this motion," Willis said. "As you know, Mr. Wade is a Southern gentleman. Me, not so much."
Wade testified that he and Willis often split the costs of trips and activities. He said Willis would sometimes reimburse him with cash for her share of these activities. This became the focus of a number of questions Wade faced from three separate attorneys.
Willis explained that her father taught her to always have at least six months worth of cash at home. She said she does not keep that much, but it is common for her to have cash.
"If you're a woman, and you go on a date with a man, you better have $200 in your pocket, so if that man acts up, you can go where you want to go," Willis said.
She testified that her romance with Wade ended last summer. Wade testified earlier to the same timeline. Willis added the two have become closer because of "attacks" against them.
"My respect for him has grown over these seven weeks of attacks," she said. "I think, but for these attacks it would have been a friendship that as life goes, we would have stopped having. You have cemented that we will be friends until the day we die."
Willis said she moved from her home into a condo because of threats she has received related to the case against Trump, as well as police brutality and gang related cases. Her father, who lived with her, advised her to leave the home for her safety while he remained. She also rejected a question from Merchant about where her daughter lives.
"Typical man. More worried about his daughter and his granddaughters than his own safety," Willis told Merchant of her father. "You'll get to meet him. You'll get to understand he doesn't scare too easily."
"Unfortunately because the threats from this case have gotten so extreme I just pay the mortgage and no one lives there," Willis continued about her home.
In the questioning of Wade earlier, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee shot down some of Merchant's questions that sought more personal details about their relationship, such as when they first spent the night together.
Later in the hearing, co-defendant David Shafer's attorney Craig Gillen also attempted to delve into the specifics of the relationship, including when they had sex. At multiple points during his testimony, Wade reiterated that he did not have extramarital relations.
Merchant's initial line of questioning was about her own relationship with Wade.
"Prior to this motion to disqualify, you and I were friends, correct?" Merchant asked and Wade confirmed. "I supported you when you ran for judge in 2016. I wore your shirts. My kids wore your shirts."
McAfee cut off Merchant's line of questioning, calling it irrelevant "in the best way."
Wade testified that he and Willis have not cohabitated and that their relationship began around March 2022. Willis' testimony also described the same timeline. Wade denied having a relationship with Willis or anyone else while he was married.
When Merchant asked why he didn't file for divorce from his wife until November 2021, Wade explained that his marriage was "irretrievably broken" in 2015, but he wished to stay in the home while his children were in school.
Wade later revealed that he was being treated for cancer in 2020 and 2021, while the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak.
"That prevented me from pretty much leaving environments that are sterile," he said. "I had health on my mind."
Merchant moved on to questioning Wade about sharing finances with Willis, bank statements relating to trips they have taken together and a foray into the difference between statements and receipts.
Wade described Willis as "independent" and "strong" in reference to discussing who pays for what, noting that this is at times a point of contention.
"When you're in a relationship -- you're not keeping a ledger over what you've paid for versus what she paid for," Wade said as Merchant continued to ask about how expenses were split.
Steven Sadow, representing Trump, was the first attorney to ask Wade when his romantic relationship with Willis ended. Wade said it ended last summer, possibly in June, and they have not been romantically involved in any way since.
"We're very good friends," Wade said. "Probably closer than ever because of these attacks."
Sadow pressed Wade about why he and Willis kept their relationship private. Wade had rebuked earlier questions that implied the relationship was a secret.
"There's nothing secret or salacious about having a private life," Wade said.
Prior to Wade's testimony, Robin Yeartie, a former staffer in the district attorney's office and a friend of Willis', testified that she knew Willis and Wade were involved in 2019. She did not have any knowledge of them taking trips together or ever living together.
Yeartie left the district attorney's office in 2022 when she says she was given the choice to either be fired or resign. This ended her friendship with Willis.
Roman, a Republican political operative, filed the motion in January to have Willis and Wade removed from the case, alleging they have profited from their personal relationship and the prosecution of Trump and the other defendants.
"As the layers unfold, it becomes clear that the district attorney and the special prosecutor have been profiting personally from this prosecution at Fulton County's expense," Roman's motion reads.
Willis acknowledged that she and Wade are in a romantic relationship in a court filing responding to Roman's motion, but said there is no conflict of interest. She goes on to allege the motion is meant to embarrass her personally.
"Roman seemingly anticipates a hearing that would last days, garner more breathless media coverage and intrude even further into the personal lives of the prosecution team in an effort to embarrass and harass the district attorney personally," Willis writes.
"This is not an example of zealous advocacy, nor is it a good faith effort to develop a record on a disputed legal issue -- it is a ticket to the circus."
Roman, Trump and 17 others have pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges in their alleged effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Four of the defendants -- Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jena Ellis and Scott Hall -- have taken plea deals in exchange for testimony against the others.
Trump, who is running for re-election, has called the indictment politically motivated.
The former president appeared in court in New York on Thursday morning, where a judge set a March 25 date for his first criminal trial, involving hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump is also charged in two federal cases, one over the handling of classified documents and another related to interference in the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
