POLITICO
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis took the stand on Thursday to defend herself against efforts to remove her from the prosecution of the former president.
Willis had initially sought to block efforts by Donald Trump and several co-defendants to compel her testimony. But she opted to withdraw her objection on Thursday after hours of testimony from special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who was probed about his relationship with Willis.
Willis repeatedly slammed defense attorneys for questioning her integrity and asking deeply personal questions about her relationship and sexual history, which she characterized as “lies.” She said the effort to remove her from the case over the matter was “contrary to democracy.”
Willis has been leading the historic prosecution of Trump for his effort to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia. Willis’ decision to testify opens an explosive and high-stakes avenue of inquiry that jeopardizes the case. Willis hired Wade as a top lieutenant to run the case, which Trump’s allies allege is a conflict of interest that should lead to their removal.
Disqualifying the prosecutors would likely cause months of delays and disruptions, at a minimum.
The effort by Trump and his allies to disqualify Willis appeared to gain some traction earlier in the day after a witness — a former “close friend” of Willis — contradicted Willis’ previous claims about the details of her romantic relationship with Wade.
Willis’ testimony came after Wade testified for several hours, ordered by Judge Scott McAfee to take the stand, and answered deeply personal questions under oath about vacations he took with Willis — and who paid for them.
Trump and other defendants claim those trips show that Willis benefited from the case because Wade allegedly used the income from his work on the case to travel around the world. They say Willis and her entire office should be disqualified from the case.
Willis and Wade sharply deny any wrongdoing, and Wade testified Thursday that Willis — whom he called an “independent, strong woman” — insisted on reimbursing him for her portions of the trip. He also swore that their romantic relationship didn’t begin until March 2022, several months after Wade joined the Trump probe.
Wade took the stand after another witness testified that she observed Willis and Wade kissing before Nov. 1 2021, the date that Willis hired Wade as a special prosecutor to help run the case. That witness — Robin Yeartie, a self-described one-time “close friend” of Willis who later had a falling out with her — said she observed a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade as early as November 2019.
