Attorney leading effort to disqualify DA Fani Willis tells legislators how she uncovered allegations
Attorney leading effort to disqualify DA Fani Willis tells legislators how she uncovered allegations of misconduct
Ashleigh Merchant testified before a Georgia Senate panel that's probing the DA.
Ashleigh Merchant, the lead attorney pushing for the disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and 18 others, provided new testimony to a Georgia Senate panel Wednesday about how she says she uncovered the romantic relationship between Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade that sits at the heart of the misconduct allegations.
Merchant told the Republican-led committee that she was looking into possible "financial irregularities" in the election case when Wade's former law partner and divorce attorney, Terrence Bradley, reached out to her, eventually sharing his belief that Wade and Willis had begun dating "before she became DA."
The judge in the election interference case, Scott McAfee, is currently weighing motions to disqualify Willis, primarily over accusations from Merchant's client, Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, that Willis benefited financially from a "personal, romantic relationship" with Wade, who she hired for the case, through Wade's "paying for vacations across the world with money he is being paid by the Fulton County taxpayers and authorized solely by Willis."
Willis and Wade have admitted to a relationship but said it "does not amount to a disqualifying conflict of interest" and that it "has never involved direct or indirect financial benefit to District Attorney Willis."
Merchant, Roman's attorney, testified Wednesday before the Georgia Senate's Special Committee on Investigations as part of its probe into the district attorney's office. While the panel does not have the authority to bring charges against Willis or remove her from the case, officials say their findings could lead to changes in some of the statutes governing the operations of the DA's office.
Merchant, who testified for over three hours, said there was an immediate response when she filed her motion seeking Willis' dismissal based on her relationship with Wade.
"I file it and at that point, the world is shocked," she said. "I mean, shocked because nobody had any idea this had been hidden."
Regarding Wade's former attorney, Merchant told legislators that "Mr. Bradley essentially went through the whole thing and said, 'Well, this is what's really happening.' He was very specific that it was before she became DA."
But when Bradley was called as a witness during last week's disqualification hearing, he reversed course, saying under oath that his remarks to Merchant were "speculation" made without personal knowledge of the matter. Willis and Wade both testified they didn't consider their relationship to have become romantic until after Wade was hired.
Attorneys for Trump are accusing Willis of committing "appalling and unforgivable" forms of forensic misconduct through what they allege is her "testifying falsely" about the timeline of the relationship.
Willis has pushed back on any allegations of misconduct. In a filing this week, she urged the judge to reject the motion to disqualify her, saying that in order to disqualify an elected district attorney, "an actual conflict of interest must be proven" -- which she says the defendants have not done.
Merchant, in her testimony Wednesday, also offered details about her conversations with Bradley and what she described as his motives. She said that Bradley was personally "upset" with Wade about the way Wade handled his divorce.
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