ATLANTA — A hearing Friday will set the tables for a final decision over whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will continue to oversee the 2020 Georgia election RICO case involving former President Donald Trump and others.
No decision is expected from Judge Scott McAfee Friday on the motions to disqualify Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade, but attorneys will make their arguments on the matter in the 1 p.m. hearing.
RELATED: Texts show prosecutor's ex-law partner gave info for effort to remove Fani Willis from election case
Find live updates below
4:16 p.m. | Judge Scott McAfee issued an order that an answer will come in the next two weeks on whether to disqualify Willis from the Trump RICO case. Closing arguments have concluded for Friday.
4:13 p.m. | Sadow addresses argument that defense attorneys should have asked Wade about conversations with Bradley, says State "objected over and over claiming that everything that Bradley was told by Wade was protected by attorney-client privilege." Calls argument "disingenuous" and says they'd be "happy to call Mr. Wade back to the stand, but as it stands there could be no confrontation of Mr. Wade."
4:11 p.m. | Sadow, Trump's lawyer, will do a rebuttal.
4:10 p.m. | Abbate wraps up.
4:02 p.m. | Abbate appears to be close to wrapping up, arguing the defense "failed to provide any actual conflict in the relationship between her (Willis) and Mr. Wade" and that there was "no evidence of a financial benefit that she gained as it relates to the prosecution of this case and ultimate outcome of this case."
3:58 p.m. | Abbate and Judge McAfee now going over the matter of cell phone location data for Wade and whether or not they would substantially demonstrate anything.
3:42 p.m. | Abbate goes to defense questioning that tried to undercut Willis' claim that she frequently keeps cash and pays for things in cash, including in her moments with Wade. Abbate asserts there was "no evidence that controverted" her testimony.
"Where was the evidence that controverted Ms. Willis' claim, and practice, of keeping cash in her home?" he asks, also noting that he'd argue it was in fact "substantiated through the testimony of her father."
3:36 p.m. | Abbate now returning to something Judge McAfee questioned a defense attorney on, which is whether when Bradley asserted in a text to Merchant that "absolutely" the relationship began before 2022, that he actually did know that. Abbate said the question Merchant texted -- "do you think it started before she hired him?" -- necessarily involves speculation.
"He doesn't say he knows, he doesn't provide any context to how he knows," Abbate says, adding that throughout Bradley's testimony "the source of his information was unclear."
3:21 p.m. | On the matter of the money exchanged between Willis and Wade, Judge McAfee asks if we are not past that being "speculation" or "conjecture" -- that money in fact changed hands, it was established cash was exchanged.
Abbate agrees but says it's "all speculation and conjecture" that the changing of moneys between the two had any financial benefit or gain to Willis, as the two testified they essentially worked to keep money matters -- spending on meals, for instance -- equal.
3:17 p.m. | Abbate and Judge McAfee reviewing case precedents for disqualification.
3:02 p.m. | Judge McAfee and Abbate going back and forth as Abbate argues an appearance of impropriety is not enough by itself for disqualification.
2:57 p.m. | Abbate further argues "not a single shred of evidence was produced through any of the exhibits or witness testimony showing how their due process rights were at all affected by the relationship that began in March of 2022 with Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade."
2:55 p.m. | Abbate argues defense attorneys showed no evidence that would prove Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade weren't truthful about when the relationship started.
"They were not able to provide any evidence as to the contrary of Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade's assertions of when their relationship began, there's absolutely no evidence that contradicts the relationship began around March of 2022," he said.
2:48 p.m. | Abbate argues Bradley's statements, even if proved inconsistent, would be impermissible for the purposes of establishing an improper impeachment because Wade was not asked about them himself when he was on the stand.
"When Mr. Wade was on the stand not once was he asked, 'Did you tell Mr. Bradley this... in a conversation not covered under attorney-client privilege?' That was not asked."
2:43 p.m. | Fulton DA's Office prosecutor Adam Abbate begins State's response.
2:40 p.m. | District Attorney Willis entered the courtroom.
2:36 p.m. | Court taking a five-minute break. The State's hour and a half response coming up next.
2:23 p.m. | Harry MacDougald, the attorney for Jeffrey Clark, is up next and says he will pursue arguing that there was indeed an "actual conflict" standard met with the relationshp.
2:16 p.m.: Next attorney outlines the theory for how a "personal interest" exists here, saying Willis and Wade lived the "lifestyle of the rich and famous... funded by the taxpayers of Fulton County and the state of Georgia with the money that was paid to Mr. Wade through the contract that Ms. Willis got him. That money flow, that is the personal interest that you asked about. She was personally benefitting from the position, from the job, from the scope of the investigation, from the scope of the indictment and how they conducted it."
2:04 p.m. | Gillen also focusing in on the speech Willis gave at a church after the motion was filed. See more below:
1:59 p.m. | Georgia State law professor on the line of argument Sadow was pursuing:
1:57 p.m. | Craig Gillen, the attorney for David Shafer, is now speaking.
1:55 p.m. | Some context: Judge McAfee and Sadow are going back and forth on Georgia legal precedents with Sadow getting to his argument as to how the judge can disqualify Willis and Wade.
"If you find by a preponderance of the evidence that, what I call subset of forensic misconduct, ethical violations, has been shown and significant or legitimate concern about the truthfulness of Wade and Willis - they're disqualified," Sadow says. "Factual findings are yours, but the law allows you to do that, you don't have to do it through an actual conflict."
1:50 p.m. | Sadow says Judge McAfee doesn't have to make a finding of fact that Willis and Wade lied, just that he has "legitimate concerns about their truthfulness."
1:47 p.m. | Judge McAfee also asks that even if Wade and Willis have been untruthful, "that is something that immediately has to be proactively policed by the trial court? Where in the law do we find a remedy to an untrue statement?"
1:45 p.m. | Judge McAfee asks if attorneys have "ever shown how he (Bradley) knew this or that he actually knew it?"
1:44 p.m. | Sadow also going into text messages between a witness, Terrence Bradley (Nathan Wade's former law partner and onetime divorce attorney) and Ashleigh Merchant in which he said the relationship began well before Wade was hired by Willis as special prosecutor, as Willis and Wade testified.
1:40 p.m. | Sadow also questions the truthfulness of Willis and Wade in how they testified about the timing of their relationship, alleging ethical violations.
1:38 p.m. | Sadow focusing in on the early statements of Willis at a church in Atlanta, after the motion to disqualify was filed, that he has argued were intended to prejudice the public against the defendants and their counsel on this matter, as he builds an argument for what he termed forensic misconduct.
1:33 p.m. | Merchant wraps up and hands it over to Steve Sadow, the powerhouse Atlanta attorney representing Trump.
1:22 p.m. | Judge McAfee asking Merchant what a "personal interest" would be that would create the conflict at the heart of his side's arguments, and he responds by citing Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's maxim, "You know it when you see it."
1:15 p.m. | Attorney John Merchant (Ashleigh Merchant's husband and law partner) is starting things off. He's laying out how he'll make his case.
1:08 p.m. | Judge McAfee notes that both defense attorneys and the State have requested evidence be reopened for various reasons, but he wants to hold this hearing because he says it's possible he may hear enough today that he doesn't need to open things for further evidence.
1:03 p.m. | Judge McAfee says the defense attorneys seeking to disqualify Willis have agreed to an hour and half to divide up among them to argue. The State will have the same amount of time in response.
1:01 p.m. | Judge McAfee has entered the courtroom.
12:45 p.m. | Good afternoon! 11Alive has reporter Grace King inside the courtroom in Downtown Atlanta for coverage. We'll also be providing live updates in this space when the hearing gets going.
More on the hearings
The proceedings have hinged on a romantic relationship between Willis and Wade and allegations that Willis personally profited from the case by paying Wade more than $650,000 for his work and then benefiting when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations the pair took together.
Willis and Wade have both testified during proceedings that they shared travel expenses, with Willis reimbursing Wade with cash for some charges on his credit card. They've said the relationship didn't begin until 2022 (after Wade was appointed special prosecutor).
"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."
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.
Terrence Bradley, Wade's former law partner and onetime divorce attorney, was believed to be a potentially crucial witness 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.
However, Bradley took the stand for a second time in a proceeding this week and testified that he does not know when Wade's relationship with Willis began.
Bradley had previously 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 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.
Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, a former campaign staffer and onetime White House aide, first revealed Willis and Wade’s relationship. Merchant filed the motion that initiated the disqualification proceedings. Texts revealed in reporting on Thursday showed Merchant's pursuit of disqualification was in part based on hopes that Bradley would provide key testimony in support of the effort to remove Willis.
The text exchanges show that Bradley willingly provided information to Merchant at least from mid-September through early February. But when Merchant questioned Bradley on Tuesday, asking whether he remembered telling her certain things, he said he did not, said he had been speculating or said she misinterpreted his messages.
“I have no direct knowledge of when the relationship started,” Bradley said on the stand, repeating versions of that several times throughout the hearing.
Visibly frustrated at one point, Merchant told Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, “Judge, he doesn't remember much of anything right now."
It's not clear whether attorneys for Trump and some of his co-defendants have met their burden of showing that Willis and Wade's relationship created a conflict of interest.
In addition to having Willis, Wade, and her office disqualified from the case, Roman seeks to have the criminal charges against him dismissed.
If Willis is removed, the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia will select a prosecutor to take over the case. The prosecutor could continue the racketeering prosecution, pursue only some of the charges, or drop the case completely.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023. So far, four people have pleaded guilty.
Prosecutors want an August 2024 trial for Trump and the remaining 14 defendants. No trial date has been set.
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