Tipsheet

Key Witness Spills the Beans on Fani Willis Corruption Scandal

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  March 10, 2024 6:45 AM

A key witness testified Wednesday morning before the Georgia state Senate's special committee investigating the actions of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as she seeks to take down former President Donald Trump ahead of Election Day.

In front of the Republican-led investigative panel, defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who's defending Trump co-defendant Michael Roman in the George election interference case, laid out exactly how she exposed the snowballing FaniGate scandal.

Willis stands accused of misusing public funds for personal gain. Merchant alleges that Willis had hired her longtime lover Nathan Wade, a private-practice lawyer with scant prosecutorial experience, to act as special prosecutor as part of a "self-serving" scheme from which she enjoyed "vacations across the world" bought by her boyfriend's taxpayer-funded earnings.

GOP state Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Athens), the committee's chairman, asked Merchant to break down her fact-finding process that led to the affair's exposure. Rehashing her discoveries throughout the three-hour hearing held at the Georgia state Capitol, Merchant talked witness tampering, White House collusion claims, and Wade's "unusual" billing practices.

White House Connection

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Cowsert honed in on an invoice Wade's law offices submitted to Fulton County featuring a vague $2,000 entry for an 8-hour "Interview with DC/White House" on November 18, 2022. "Do you know what that references?" Cowsert prodded Merchant.

Merchant said she believes that's when Wade's prosecution team met with members of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. House select January 6 committee. "The state said that they had to meet off-campus, because they didn't have a record of it. You have to have a record if you go into the White House..." Merchant stated. "They said they had a really hard time getting that meeting, and they had to have someone who had some source or something to get them to agree to the meeting."

Merchant pivoted to White House visitor logs showing Willis visiting Vice President Kamala Harris on February 28, 2023, several months before Trump's August 2023 grand jury indictment, inside a tent situated on the lawn of the VP's residence (a.k.a. "VPR"). The VP's mansion is located about two-and-a-half miles north of the White House on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory.

On the witness stand, Willis categorically denied ever visiting the White House. "I did not go to the White House," she testified.

According to Newsweek, the occasion was a garden event hosted by Harris at her home in partnership with Black Entertainment Television (BET). Approximately 400 guests attended the soiree honoring "young black emerging leaders," including Willis. "In honor of Black History Month and in keeping with the theme of celebrating Black excellence, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff hosted trailblazing Black leaders at their private residence..." a BET press release reads.

Still, people often talk shop at parties.

Cowsert pointed to another $2,000 entry that says "Travel to Athens; Conf. with White House Counsel" on May 23, 2022.

"We've tried to figure out what and who that was," Merchant said without adding much illumination on the matter.

Then, the chairman asked the question we were all waiting for: "Do you have reason to suspect or can you confirm whether or not Ms. Willis or Mr. Wade were coordinating with the Biden White House in the course of this investigation and prosecution?"

Merchant said "a lot" of the material in the discovery is the "same" as what "other places" have, alluding to some J6 similarities. "So, they had to have gotten it from somewhere," Merchant remarked, and she left it at that before Cowsert called a short recess.

The Informant

Wade's ex-law partner Terrence Bradley, who once represented him in his divorce dispute, was the initial source of information tipping Merchant off about the affair. Merchant said Bradley—"upset" with the way Wade was treating his wife of 26 years—contacted her. "He essentially just left her after meeting Ms. Willis," she stated, noting Jocelyn Wade was a stay-at-home mom.

For months, the two exchanged hundreds of text messages, and Bradley divulged details about the affair's origins, including meet-ups at hotels. Bradley texted he "absolutely" knows that the sexploits started years earlier than the couple claimed under oath (when they met at a training conference where Wade was Willis's teacher vs. after Wade's November 2021 appointment). 

According to the chat logs, Bradley was a willing behind-the-scenes informant offering Merchant, his trustworthy "friend," legal advice on effectively exposing corruption in the DA's office, such as advising whom she should subpoena in the Willis admin.

Following Merchant's January 8 motion to disqualify Willis, which contained the explosive affair allegations, she said Bradley received a frenzy of calls fishing to see if he was "the leak," including one from an attorney with direct ties to the DA's office. Though it wasn't overtly "threatening," it was an "out-of-the-blue" phone call prodding to see if Bradley was Merchant's source. 

"They were trying to figure out if it was him, and they were trying to silence him," Merchant assessed. 

The next day, Wade called Bradley's best friend and instructed him to remind Bradley of his attorney-client confidentiality privilege, Merchant testified. It seemed like tampering with witnesses, Merchant surmised. "Did he interpret that as Ms. Willis trying to intimidate him from revealing this affair?" Cowsert asked. "Or Mr. Wade," Merchant said. "He took it as intimidation, yes."

Specifically, Bradley phrased it as "the shot across the bow." An evidentiary hearing was scheduled on February 15, and Merchant started issuing a whirlwind of subpoenas, which the prosecution tried to squash across the board.

"That's when this witness tampering occurred after that to try to intimidate your witnesses from coming to court," Cowsert said.

Bradley was billed as the defense's "star witness," but he turned hostile on the stand, denying having direct knowledge of the affair despite saying so and dismissing the texts as "speculation." Everything else Bradley couldn't "recall" when nudged to snitch on his ex-client. Beforehand, Bradley claimed attorney-client privilege to escape cross-examination, but his bid was shot down.

Willis's Public Persona

Merchant brought up the book Find Me the Votes, which Willis was exclusively interviewed for. Willis gave the writers unfettered access, she said, and intimate insight into the investigation as the prosecution built its case against Trump. "She literally let the authors of this book in when she was deciding how to prosecute this case, who to indict, who not to indict," Merchant stated.

"Prosecutors aren't allowed to publicly condemn an accused prior to trial," Merchant said.

She referred to the infamous "church speech" Willis delivered at a black church in Atlanta, where Willis claimed the immense backlash is racially motivated and that political opponents are targeting Wade simply for being "a black man." "God has told her to prosecute them..." Merchant said Willis expressed in the book. "That she is doing the will of God by prosecuting our clients."

Merchant said the DA's office contracted Critical Mention, a company that would monitor Willis's public image through media monitoring for $10,000. "They put a dollar figure basically on your media presence, and they give you these analytical reports. They'll say, 'Hey, you appeared on NBC. That's a million dollars worth [...] The Fani Willis brand is doing well.' Things like that."

Democrat Opposition

Afterward, state Sen. Harold Jones (D-Augusta), a member of the minority party, was allowed to ask Merchant questions.

Jones cited case law that says, in part, there has to be "a personal stake in the defendant's conviction" for a conflict of interest to arise. "So, is that what you're relying on?" he asked. To which, she said: "No, in the prosecution also [...] It's not just a conviction. And obviously, the state wants it to be a conviction." Merchant referred to Willis making "numerous" public statements about "her interest in a conviction," such as emails admitted as exhibits discussing the DA's desire to see a guilty outcome and jail time.

"Mr. Wade is receiving his funds because he's billing [Fulton County], because the case is going on. Correct? Not because he wins a case," Jones ventured again. "No, he could lose the case and still make a ton of money off of it," Merchant replied.

"What you have to show is there's an actual unfairness to the defendant in the trial. Can you point to any unfairness in the trial that's taken place?" Jones asked, working another angle on the conflict issue. Merchant retorted: "It's not limited just to the trial."

Then, the Democrat state senator accused Merchant of prolonging the prosecution (and Wade's legal payments as a result) for not taking a plea deal offered by Wade that would've handed her client a $5,000 fine plus misdemeanor probation. "We were the first people to get an offer," Merchant recounted. "We said, 'No, we want a dismissal,' because [Roman] was not guilty."

"In reality [...] he was actually trying to end your client's case," Jones stated. "It would have been no more billing on that case [...] What you're just telling me now is that he was willing to stop his billing because he offered your client a misdemeanor and you rejected it. You're the one who's continuing the billing! You're the one that's continuing to make him bill! He was willing to cut that off [...] He basically went out and said, 'I'm tired of billing. I'm going to offer a misdemeanor.' And you said no," he told Merchant.

Merchant said there are three different classifications of co-defendants that were jointly indicted: D.C. defendants who could've been handled in federal court, the electors, and local-level subjects. "Instead of choosing to do that [...] by putting them all three together, it expands the ligitation," Merchant said. Rather than it being "a quick case," wherein the state would prosecute each defendant separately and independently, the prosecution chose to pursue a sprawling RICO indictment, Merchant said.

"They can plea people out [...] but they're always going to have that large enterprise," Merchant explained. "Even if they pled my client out, the offer was for him to testify. Even though he would not be on trial, his acts would still be on trial, which still expands the litigation because he's not gone. The deal's not: 'You can plea out and you're gone. Bye. We're not taking up time with you.'"

"If they brought it out and said, 'Hey, we datin'. Is it a conflict in your mind?" Jones asked. "What would be the conflict?"

"They only brought it out once I alleged it and they called me a liar multiple times," Merchant said of the undisclosed affair, adding it's "the fact they were sleeping together, he was paying for trips for them to go on, and they were hiding it from the taxpayers."

"It doesn't matter if she discloses—If you disclose a conflict, it still exists..." Jones said. "If you have an actual conflict where your client is harmed, just because they disclose it doesn't end that conflict. What you're describing is not a conflict at all! You're just saying, 'I caught somebody, so therefore I'm going to create something and call it a conflict.' You cannot waive a conflict like that."

"You're talking about a prosecutor sleeping with a person that she is appointing to do this work, paying exorbitant amounts of money, not getting county approval—" Merchant went on. Jones interjected, "Is she paying him or is he earning the money...?"

"I would hope that he's billing based on work that he is doing..." Merchant volleyed, noting that "the billing is very irregular." (Wade "always" used "block billing," meaning he "never" itemized and specified what work was actually done, Merchant said. On November 5, 2021, days after his contract commenced, Wade billed the county for 24 hours in a single day, raking in $6,000.)

As outside counsel, Wade was awarded "lucrative" contracts that have amassed him over $650,000 in income. Wade's wages far exceeded what others assigned to the Trump case were pocketing. Willis has defended her "southern gentleman," who never prosecuted a felony case, making "much more money than the other special prosecutors...because Wade did much more work."

"She's not paying him; the Fulton County taxpayers are," Merchant clarified.

On the subject of the luxury trysts Willis and Wade took together to Aruba, the Bahamas, and Belize, Jones asked, "Do you know what the average Americans spend on vacation?" Merchant countered, "Not this much." Jones pressed, "Have you looked?" Merchant said, "I would imagine most of the Fulton County taxpayers would love to go on any of these trips."

Slide presented during Merchant's testimony"Since you speculate a lot, I can speculate and say you did look and that's why you didn't put it in your brief because Forbes actually says that the average is about $3,700 that a person spends on a vacation. For a family of four," Jones stated.

"I made very certain that my numbers only included the two of them," Merchant responded.

"But it's two adults," Jones shot back. "It's nothing extraordinary."

"This is half of that for two people," Merchant emphasized.

"It wouldn't necessarily be half. It's two adults. Bottom line is it's not extravagant. It's not lavish," Jones stated.

Merchant mentioned it only has to be at least a $100 value for the financial benefit to violate the county's Code of Ethics. She noted Willis did not list the travel paid for by Wade on financial disclosure reports, which require officials to disclose gifts of $100 or more from someone doing business with the county. Also, she swore an oath of office to take "only my lawful compensation."

Willis insists she repaid Wade in other ways with (conveniently) untraceable cash reimbursements and by paying occasionally, though there's little to no proof of the transactions. That's the story they're sticking to as Willis faces being kicked to the curb.

What's Next for Fani Willis?

"What are the consequences for an attorney to give sworn testimony—that she did—if your Bradley, Yeartie [testimony], your CellHawk data, your other independent verifications are found to be truthful?" Cowsert asked Merchant of Willis lying under oath.

"It's a crime," Merchant answered. "It's a felony. You'd lose your license. It's perjury."

"Same for Wade?" Cowsert continued. "Yes," she replied.

However, if Willis is found guilty of wrongdoing, the legislative body probing the piling prosecutorial misconduct claims can't directly discipline, disbar, or criminally charge the DA. At most, its members—six Republicans to three Democrats—can recommend changes to the state law or budget in order "to build guardrails" in the state's criminal justice system.

Merchant is the first witness to be called on to testify and may be summoned again for additional questioning, Cowsert said. Willis could possibly be deposed, too, as the committee has full subpoena powers and can compel the production of evidence. Accordingly, it is authorized to undertake actions it deems necessary to "enforce such subpoenas" when parties refuse to obey. 

Following the committee's formation, the state senators have since been contacted by whistleblowers within the DA's office coming forward to volunteer closed-door, confidential testimony over mounting concerns about the department's alleged misuse of state and federal funds. When the committee first convened in early February, Cowsert publicized, "We've already had a number of people reaching out to us in the nature of whistleblowers who have sensitive information..."

Speaking at the Georgia state Capitol building, Willis called the committee hearing "a political quest," per NBC News.

"People are angry because I'm going to do the right thing and stand up for justice," Willis told reporters.

"They can continue their games, and I'll continue to do the work of the people," she added.

Moreover, anything Merchant stated before the committee won't be admissible as evidence in the disqualification proceedings.

Judge Scott McAfee, who's currently mulling over whether or not to knock Willis off the Trump case, announced at the conclusion of Friday's final arguments he will make a disqualification decision within two weeks or so. There's no longer "speculation and conjecture" that there was a relationship, McAfee stated. "Where the ledger stands" between the lovers remains in dispute.

McAfee questioned the veracity of Bradley's knowledge, suggesting he's an unreliable witness who went "sideways."

"Is it ever definitively shown how he knew this and that he actually did know it?" McAfee asked. "Other than just an assertion outright? 'Absolutely.' Usually, if a state has a witness that goes sideways, they've got him locked in [...] We don't have that here."

More witness testimony has been submitted by the defense in hopes of re-opening evidence and, thus, the evidentiary hearings. 

The witnesses coming forward include a "concerned" Cobb County prosecutor, who wants to correct the record after watching Bradley's testimony "directly contra[dict]" what he had told her about the affair, and an attorney, whom Bradley also allegedly blabbed to. Based on what Bradley told them, both say the sexcapades "definitely" started long before the couple claims, corroborating what former Willis staffer Robin Bryant-Yeartie testified to, specifically that they began dating as early as 2019.

The court filings also allude to Yeartie's condominium, where Willis was subletting, being used as a hook-up hub, as Wade's cellphone data indicated. One of the witnesses said Wade was given a garage opener to access Yeartie's residence at will.

The other witness, a deputy DA from Cobb County, said she once overheard Bradley receive a phone call from a frantic Willis after a damaging article was published revealing how much money Wade has been paid thus far for his work on the Trump case.

"They are coming after us," Willis allegedly told Bradley, instructing him: "You don't need to talk to them about anything about us."