The co-defendant who accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of being romantically involved with a lawyer she appointed to lead the election interference case against former president Donald Trump is reportedly dubious of Willis' timeline on the illicit romance.
In a Friday motion, the lawyer for Mike Roman, a longtime GOP operative who worked on Trump's 2020 campaign, said special prosecutor Nathan Wade's former law partner will testify Willis and Wade hooked up before he was named to the case, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Terrence Bradley — Wade's former business associate, friend, and onetime lawyer — will "refute" claims Willis and Wade made in a court filing admitting a personal relationship they said started after Wade was appointed to lead the Trump case.
"Bradley has non-privileged, personal knowledge that the romantic relationship between Wade and Willis began prior to Willis being sworn as the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia in January 2021," wrote Ashleigh Merchant, Roman's lawyer, the Post reported.
"Bradley can confirm that Willis contracted with Wade after Wade and Willis began a romantic relationship, thus rebutting Wade's claim in his affidavit that they did not start dating until 2022."
The filing pressed Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee — overseeing the case — to move ahead with a Feb. 15 evidentiary hearing on Roman's motion to disqualify Willis, Wade, and the district attorney's office.
There was no comment from Willis or Bradley, the Post reported.
Supporters of the prosecution were stunned — and wary.
"I will not make any assumptions about the veracity of any of the charges or claims — I just don't think we have any basis," Morgan Cloud, a law professor at Emory University, told the Post.
"But if this is proven, I don't understand how this could have happened. She's a smart person and a good lawyer, and to have engaged in the kind of misconduct alleged here, it's just inexplicable to me."
Roman's filing also included new details about Willis and Wade's travel together, alleging Wade paid for at least five trips for the two of them — two cruises to the Bahamas, a trip to Belize, and previously reported trips to Napa Valley and Aruba, according to the Post.
In her response last week, Willis claimed she and Wade shared travel expenses, but her filing included receipts only for one airplane trip from Atlanta to Miami.
Roman's filing comes a week after Willis even acknowledged a personal relationship with Wade but denied it had tainted the proceedings — and a month after Roman first claimed Willis and Wade were in an "improper, clandestine personal relationship" that has financially benefited them both.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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