FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A potential key witness for lawyers seeking to derail the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others returned to the witness stand Tuesday but repeatedly said he couldn't remember when pressed about details of the romantic relationship between District Attorney Fani Willis and another top prosecutor.
Special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s former law partner and onetime divorce attorney, Terrence Bradley, testified that he does not know when Wade's relationship with Willis began, adding: “I do not have knowledge of it starting or when it started."
The defense attorney questioning him appeared to grow frustrated at his lack of answers, at one point remarking: “He doesn't remember much of anything right now.”
Bradley’s testimony was believed to be potentially crucial as defense attorneys sought to undercut Willis and Wade’s claims about when their romantic relationship began. That timeline has become a central issue as defense attorneys push to have Willis and Wade removed from the case, arguing that their relationship created a conflict of interest.
Willis and Wade both testified under oath that they didn’t begin dating until after he was hired as special prosecutor in November 2021. But information that has come to light has raised questions about the truthfulness of the prosecutors' testimony. One witness, a former friend and co-worker of Willis, told the court that she saw the pair hugging and kissing before he was hired as special prosecutor.
An analysis of cellphone location data in a court filing from Trump’s attorneys also shows Wade had visited the neighborhood south of Atlanta where Willis lived at least 35 times during the first 11 months of 2021, an investigator said. Wade had testified that he had been to the condo where Willis lived fewer than 10 times before he was hired as special prosecutor in November 2021.
Bradley cited attorney-client privilege in refusing to answer most questions during an extraordinary two-day evidentiary hearing earlier this month that thrust the prosecutors’ private lives into the spotlight. But Judge Scott McAfee said some of Bradley’s communications with Wade were not subject to privilege, according to multiple attorneys who received an email from the judge setting the hearing for Bradley to continue testifying.
McAfee has scheduled arguments for Friday afternoon on whether Willis and her office should be removed from the case.
Latest updates
4:05 p.m. | Bradley testifies that he himself did not have a personal relationship with Willis.
3:20 p.m. | Bradley said the notion that Wade and Willis' relationship began when she left the DA office was pure speculation on his part.
3:10 p.m. | Bradley testified to Trump defense attorney Steve Sadow that he only recalled one conversation with Wade regarding his relationship with Willis.
2:54 p.m. | Bradley and Michael Roman's attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, goes back and forth on whether he had knowledge of trips Wade and Willis took together. Bradley claimed he knew about some trips but not others and that any knowledge would have come from Wade as a client.
2:45 p.m. | Bradley said he did not have any personal knowledge of Wade having a garage opener for Willis' home.
2:42 p.m. | Bradley said he didn't have any personal knowledge of Wade meeting at Willis' office for sex.
2:29 p.m. | Bradley states that Wade did tell him he was dating Willis but could not recall when that would have been. Bradley also stated they were alone when this conversation took place.
2:08 p.m. | Bradley states he has no knowledge of how or when the relationship between Willis and Wade started.
2:07 p.m. | Terrence Bradley officially takes the stand.
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Willis and Wade have both denied the defense's allegations, providing sworn testimony that their relationship didn't begin until 2022 (after Wade was appointed special prosecutor) and that Willis paid her share of all the costs associated with vacations the two took.
"I don’t need anything from a man; a man is not a plan. A man is a companion, and so there was tension always in our relationship, which is why I would give him his money back," Willis said at the hearing earlier this month. "I don’t need anybody to foot my bills. The only man who would foot my bills completely is my daddy."
With the evidence currently presented, Former Dekalb County District Attorney Robert James said he believes the defense team will have a difficult time convincing Judge McAfee that the prosecutors improperly financially benefitted from the case.
"From what I've seen, I don't think the conflict argument has merit," said James.
Another witness, Robin Yeartie, has already testified that the pair began dating in 2019 -- years before when they say their relationship began. Meanwhile, Willis' father has provided testimony that tends to support Willis and Wade's timeline of events.
Willis’ removal would be a stunning development in the most sprawling of the four criminal cases against Trump. If she were disqualified, a nonpartisan council that supports prosecuting attorneys in Georgia would need to find a new attorney to take over. That successor could either proceed with the charges against Trump and 14 others or drop the case altogether. Even if a new lawyer went forward with the case, it would very likely not go to trial before November, when Trump is expected to be the Republican nominee for president.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to try to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia illegally. Four people have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. Trump and the remaining 14 have pleaded not guilty.
The effort to remove Willis and her office from the case began last month with a motion filed by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman and has since been joined by the former president and some other defendants. Roman's filing alleges that Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then improperly benefited when he used his earnings to take her on vacations. It also alleges that Willis and Wade already dated when she hired him in November 2021.
Willis and Wade have both said that they shared travel expenses, with Willis reimbursing Wade with cash for some charges on his credit card.
Under questioning from Roman's attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, earlier this month, Bradley acknowledged that he had communicated with her between September and January as she investigated the possibility of the relationship. But Merchant and other defense attorneys were repeatedly frustrated by Bradley's refusal to answer further questions about the relationship.