ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – A new court filing suggests a key witness in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ disqualification hearing wasn’t telling the truth on the stand.
The document was filed by attorneys for David Shafer, the former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and a co-defendant in former President Donald Trump’s Georgia racketeering case, on Monday. It says Cindi Lee Yeager, co-chief deputy district attorney for the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, would testify that Terrence Bradley told her a different story than what he told the court.
READ THE FULL FILING:
Bradley is the former law partner and divorce attorney of Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor on the Trump case whose former relationship with Willis may have crossed financial and ethical boundaries, the defense argues. In a series of hearings deciding whether Willis would be removed from the case, Bradley was called to testify three times.
When grilled on details about the relationship, Bradley often said he couldn’t recall specifics, claiming he had no personal knowledge of when the relationship started. But according to the filing, he spoke with Yeager multiple times in person around August 2023 to January 2024, saying the relationship started after the two met at a 2019 conference and was ongoing when Willis was running for district attorney. Both Willis and Wade have testified that the relationship started in 2022 after she hired him as a special prosecutor.
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Around September 2023, Bradley was visiting Yeager in her office when he got a call from Willis, Yeager said. Yeager claims the overheard conversation was about an article discussing how much money Wade and his law partners were paid in the Trump case.
“They are coming after us,” Willis allegedly told Bradley. “You don’t need to talk to them about anything about us.”
In the filing, Yeager said she was “concerned” about the mismatching information while watching Bradley’s testimony.
The details Bradley allegedly told Yeager are similar to what he texted Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney for another Trump co-defendant. When pressured by the defense, Bradley told the court he was merely speculating when messaging Merchant — but the defense wasn’t buying it.
“Let’s speak truth here. You’re under oath,” Trump co-defendant attorney Richard Rice told Bradley at a hearing on Feb. 27. “Did you lie to her about any of those details?”
“I don’t recall whether any of it was a lie or not,” Bradley answered.
On the stand, Robin Bryant-Yeartie, a former friend of Willis, also said the two’s relationship started in 2019.
Scott McAfee, the judge on Trump’s Fulton County case, is expected to make a decision regarding Willis’ disqualification within two weeks.
Willis is the locally elected district attorney who issued dozens of indictments in August 2023 accusing Trump and his allies of trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
But in early January, an explosive court filing by Michael Roman, one of Trump’s co-defendants, and his attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, accused Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade of having a romantic relationship.
Roman is a former White House aide who served as the director of Trump’s election day operations. Prosecutors allege Roman was involved in efforts to put forth a set of fake electors after the 2020 election, a charge to which Roman has pleaded not guilty.
Roman’s court filing claims Willis and Wade took lavish vacations together and that Wade used part of his salary from the district attorney’s office to travel with Willis. Merchant also claims to have discovered “outside of court filings” that Willis and Wade went on trips together.
Roman then filed another stunning court document, claiming Bradley would testify Willis and Wade had a personal relationship before Willis hired Wade.
Full coverage of Fani Willis’ disqualification hearing
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