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Fani Willis, the prosecutor overseeing the election interference case against Donald Trump in Georgia, testified on Thursday about the former US president’s claims that her romance with a colleague presented a financial conflict of interest.
“I’ve been very anxious to have this conversation with you here today,” Ms Willis told a lawyer for Michael Roman, a Trump co-defendant. She accused the lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, of lying in her arguments to the judge.
Ms Willis took the stand after fellow prosecutor and former romantic partner Nathan Wade in testimony denied allegations of financial impropriety. Lawyers for Ms Willis’s office initially opposed her testifying, but Ms Willis dropped her opposition after making a surprise entrance in the courtroom.
Mr Trump and some of his co-defendants assert that Ms Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, should be disqualified from the prosecution due to her relationship with Mr Wade, who they say paid for trips the two took together while Mr Wade was being paid by Ms Willis’s office.
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Ms Willis told the court: “I’m not on trial. These people are on trial for stealing an election.”
Asked if she objected to records of flights she took with Mr Wade being requested, she said: “I object to you getting records. You’ve been intrusive into people’s personal lives. You’re confused. You think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020.”
The Georgia case is one of four criminal prosecutions that Mr Trump faces as he closes in on securing the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic president Joe Biden in the November election. Mr Trump himself was in New York on Thursday where a judge scheduled a trial on charges related to hush-money payments to porn star actor Stormy Daniels to start on March 25th.
Mr Wade on Thursday pushed back on accusations raised by Mr Roman, Mr Trump’s co-defendant, that Ms Willis financially benefited from the relationship, giving her an incentive to prolong the prosecution.
Mr Wade testified that he booked travel with Ms Willis to California, Belize and Aruba, but said Ms Willis either reimbursed him in cash or covered other expenses. ”She’s going to insist that she carries her own weight,” Mr Wade said of Ms Willis.
Defence lawyers grilled Mr Wade on the trips, suggesting Ms Willis would have had to pay thousands of dollars in cash to cover her share.
Mr Wade spoke after a former friend and employee of Ms Willis, Robin Yeartie, contradicted the timeline of the relationship Ms Willis and Mr Wade have presented to the court.
Ms Yeartie testified that Ms Willis and Mr Wade began dating shortly after they met in 2019 and before Mr Wade was contracted to lead the Trump case. Mr Wade later testified that the relationship began early in 2022 while he was already working on the election investigation.
Fulton County superior court Judge Scott McAfee scheduled the hearing, which is due to continue on Friday, to determine whether Ms Willis’s office should be disqualified from prosecuting the election case. That would cast doubt on the future of the prosecution.
Ms Willis’s office hascriticised the disqualification effort as a publicity stunt based on “fantastical theories and rank speculation”.
The allegations have roiled Ms Willis’s prosecution of Mr Trump and 14 others who have pleaded not guilty to charges of forming a criminal conspiracy to overturn Mr Trump’s 2020 defeat in Georgia.
Mr Trump has long presented the Georgia prosecution, and others he faces, as politically motivated attempts to prevent him from returning to power. He has highlighted the claims against Ms Willis as evidence of perceived misconduct by those pursing him.
Mr Trump signed on to the disqualification effort, accusing Ms Willis of improperly discussing race during a speech in which she appeared to reference the allegations. Ms Willis, who along with Mr Wade is black, has said her remarks did not violate any ethical rules.
Mr Trump’s lawyers have been working to delay the various prosecutions he faces. Were he to win the November election, he could order a halt to two federal prosecutions – or possibly pardon himself of any federal convictions – as well as argue that as president he should not face state prosecutions like the Georgia case. – Reuters
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