Tipsheet

Uh Oh: It's Getting Even Worse for 'Naughty Fani'

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  March 06, 2024 2:15 PM

Last week, we heard from a key witness on the matter of whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be removed from her anti-Trump prosecution, due to ethical violations and conflicts of interest.  Willis is accused of hiring her glaringly under-qualified lover onto the case, then lying about doing so in several ways -- including the relevant time line, and his level of compensation.  After Nathan Wade was brought in by Willis, thus furnishing him with a windfall of compensation via taxpayers, the couple went on lavish vacations together, paid for by Wade.  Willis claims she reimbursed him for her portion of the expenses, but always in cash, so there are no records of the supposed transactions.  Over the course of these court hearings, witnesses and phone data have contradicted under-oath contentions from Willis and Wade about the timeline of their affair, raising questions about perjury, in addition to the alleged ethical breaches.

The aforementioned witness drew poor reviews, as he appeared confused and frazzled through much of his testimony, often claiming that he did not recall information or details.  At one point, he even muttered "oh dang" as incriminating text messages were presented to him on the stand.  Megyn Kelly obtained and reviewed the content of those text exchanges, including a few in which the witness -- Wade's former law partner and divorce attorney, Terrance Bradley -- confirms that the Willis-Wade sexual relationship started before the participants have sworn that it did.  Bradley went on to testify that his assertions in the texts amounted to "speculation."  Another witness, however, didn't speculate, and neither did the cell phone records.  But in a new development, an officer of the court is reportedly preparing to attest that she overheard Fani Willis pressuring Bradley to cover up what he knows:

A new witness could testify Fani Willis warned lover Nathan Wade’s former business partner to stay quiet about their affair, an explosive new court filing claims. “They are coming after us. You don’t need to talk to them about anything about us,” Willis is alleged to have warned Terrence Bradley in a September 2023 phone call. The call was overheard by Cobb County, Georgia, prosecutor Cindi Lee Yeager, according to court papers filed Monday by David Schafer, a co-defendant of former President Donald Trump...[Willis] stands accused of carrying on a relationship with Wade, whom she appointed special prosecutor, but hiding it from the court, presenting a conflict of interest. Willis and Wade have said under oath they were only romantic between 2022 and 2023, long after the case started. At a hearing over whether to disqualify Willis last week, Bradley claimed on the stand that he had no “knowledge” of when the two prosecutors started dating. 

But the filing says Yeager would swear under oath that that was at odds with what Bradley told Yeager in person — that the romance began in 2019, during Willis’ DA campaign. Bradley also texted a lawyer for another Trump co-defendant that the pair were “absolutely” dating before Willis hired Wade to manage the Trump prosecution in November 2021 — and he muttered, “Oh, dang” when confronted with that evidence on the stand. Yeager is willing to testify that Bradley told her Wade “had definitively begun a romantic relationship with Ms. Willis during the time that Ms. Willis was running for District Attorney in 2019 through 2020,” Monday’s filing says...After watching Bradley’s testimony, Yeager “became concerned as a result of the fact that what Mr. Bradley testified to on the witness stand was directly contrary to what Mr. Bradley had told Ms. Yeager in person,” Monday’s filing says.

Read the court filing here. In addition to concealing the illicit affair and its conflicts of interests, Willis now stands accused of lying under oath, which is a crime. Yeager's allegation also very much looks like witness tampering. Could this new wrinkle constitute obstruction of justice, too? It's possible that removal from the Trump case could end up being the least of Willis and Wade's professional and legal problems, depending on how all of this all plays out. Before you go, take ten minutes and watch the thorough and devastating summary presented to the court regarding the multiple conflicts of interest that attorney Harry MacDougald argues demand Willis be removed from the Trump prosecution.  In fact, he says, her whole office is tainted:

"Throw another log on the bonfire of conflicts of interest.  The problem here is that the DA cannot distinguish between her personal interests and ambitions on the one hand, and her public duties as a prosector on the other -- and apparently neither can anyone else in their office...This is a case study of what happens when you operate under a conflict of interest. It has put an irreparable stain on the case.  Think of the message that would be sent if they are not disqualified. If this is tolerated, well get more of it.  This office is a global laughingstock because of their conduct.  They should be disqualified and the case should be dismissed."

I'm not sure a dismissal is likely, but it's getting harder to envision how Willis can be allowed to remain on this case. And if she's removed, what about her subordinates who are inextricably linked to her, as well as her deceptions?