Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis observed the hearing on the Georgia election interference case on Friday, March 1, 2024, in Atlanta.
The defense team in the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s romantic relationship case continued to reveal new information on Tuesday morning. This time, they presented another potential witness.
According to a motion filed by co-defendant Cathy Latham, the former Coffee County GOP chair involved in the fake electors plot, Atlanta-based attorney Manny Arora discussed the timeline of the Willis and Wade affair.
According to the filing, the defense attorney, who was previously a prosecutor and law professor, has been informed multiple times that the prosecutors began their relationship years prior to when they claimed it began.
Legal experts say that as the evidence against the prosecutors in the racketeering (RICO) case against Donald Trump continues to grow, its value at this stage of the proceedings remains uncertain. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the judge presiding over the case will take into account the latest allegations when considering the broader motion to disqualify the prosecutorial team.
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There is a potential issue with the filing prepared by attorney William G. Cromwell. It relies on conversations between Arora and Terrence Bradley, who is Wade’s former divorce lawyer and law partner, as a source of Arora’s knowledge.
According to the latest motion, Mr. Arora had multiple conversations with attorney Terrence Bradley between September and October 2023 regarding the relationship between District Attorney Wills and Nathan Wade.
According to Arora, Bradley informed him that Wade and Willis had indeed started a romantic relationship during the period when the district attorney was initially running for her position from 2019 to 2020.
According to Bradley’s testimony, his understanding of the relationship between Wade and Willis was derived solely from a single conversation and was primarily speculative. Furthermore, when questioned under oath, he vehemently declined to provide a specific timeframe for when the relationship became romantic. In previous text exchanges with defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents co-defendant Michael Roman, Bradley mentioned that the affair commenced during Willis’ tenure as a municipal court judge. This, once again, suggests that the relationship began sometime between 2019 and 2020.
On Monday, co-defendant David Shafer, the former Georgia GOP chair who prosecutors allege was involved in the fake electors plot, filed a similar motion citing conversations with Bradley. This motion also presented the possibility of testimony from Co-Chief Deputy District Attorney for Cobb County, Cindi Lee Yeager.
However, the source and credibility of both Yeager’s and Arora’s testimonies could potentially hinder Judge Scott McAfee from taking into account the motions presented by the defense attorneys this week.
Bradley took the stand twice and was expected to be the key witness for the defense, according to McAfee. However, his testimony lacked substantial evidence. Ultimately, both the prosecution and some defense attorneys doubted Bradley’s credibility.
In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Georgia State College of Law Professor Anthony Michael Kreis expressed his belief in the credibility of Manny Arora and Cindi Lee Yeager regarding the information they received from Terrance Bradley, which could potentially expose Bradley as a liar. However, Professor Kreis also acknowledged uncertainty about how to proceed with this information.
According to Atlanta-area attorney Esther S. McDonald, the judge could interpret both motions, which reference Yeager and Arora, as cumulative. McDonald also provided her insights on the recent filings concerning X.
In law, the term “cumulative” pertains to the rules of evidence and signifies the concept of “more of the same” or repetition.
McDonald pointed out that one of the points raised in the Yeager filing could potentially pressure McAfee to take action. This point revolves around a statement attributed to Willis herself.
During her testimony, Yeager stated that she had overheard the district attorney speaking with Bradley on the phone and telling him not to talk to the media about Wade. However, when Bradley took the stand, he essentially denied ever having any phone conversations with Willis.
The Latham motion, which references the Arora case, has the potential to compel the court to reconsider the evidence presented in the disqualification hearing. This particular point of contention revolves around the attribution of personal knowledge regarding the relationship, contradicting Bradley’s previous testimony where he explicitly stated he had no such knowledge.
According to McAfee, the Arora testimony may seem repetitive. However, the Latham motion sheds light on a small but significant detail regarding the secretive relationship between Wade and Willis.
In the motion, Mr. Bradley asserts his personal knowledge of the relationship between Mr. Wade and district Attorney Wills. He specifically mentions details about the use of Ms. Robin Yeartie’s apartment, revealing that Mr. Wade had a garage opener for the property.
During the hearings, the prosecutors and the defense discussed allegations that Willis and Wade utilized a condominium rented by Yeartie as a place for romantic rendezvous. Cellphone records, which were legally obtained by the defense, indicate that Wade visited the condo on multiple occasions and probably stayed overnight twice before their relationship officially turned romantic.
The defense only briefly addressed the issue of the garage door opener during a hearing last week.
Bradley admitted to Merchant that he had never seen a garage door opener before. He clarified that he had never been to Ms. Willis’ house and therefore had no personal knowledge of whether she had a garage door opener or not.
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