The former divorce attorney for Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade resumed testimony Tuesday afternoon at a hearing pertaining to the romantic relationship between Wade and District Attorney Fani Willis, and said he couldn’t remember when their relationship began.
Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants, determined that some of Wade’s communications with his former lawyer Terrence Bradley would not be covered by attorney-client privilege, according to an email chain obtained by NBC News.
The DA’s office and a defense attorney who’s involved in the case confirmed the emails’ validity.
Wade was in court for the hearing, which began around 2 p.m. ET. He’d previously refused to waive attorney-client privilege over his communications with Bradley. McAfee met privately with Bradley and his attorney on Monday before setting the hearing.
Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, asked Bradley when the relationship began, and he said he couldn’t remember the date. “I do not have knowledge of when it started,” Bradley said.
The issue is relevant because Merchant has argued that Wade and Willis were already romantically involved when she named him special counsel in the probe. Wade and Willis have said they became involved after he was appointed.
Merchant asked Bradley about a text message Bradley sent her claiming the pair had been involved before Willis was elected district attorney. Bradley said he was “speculating.” “I never witnessed anything,” he said.
He later acknowledged that “at some point” Wade told him he was dating Willis. “I can’t tell you what date that was,” Bradley said, adding the remark was “made in confidence.”
Asked later if Wade had told him that he had sex with Willis in a law office she was renting, Bradley said, “I do not remember him saying that.”
Merchant then pressed Bradley on his having told her in text messages that Wade and Willis took several trips together. He said, “Any knowledge that I have of any trip would have come from my client at the time.”
Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow grilled Bradley about another text exchange he had with Merchant, where she asked if Wade and Willis had been involved before she became DA and he replied, “Absolutely.”
Bradley said the reply was “speculation on my part.”
Sadow got him to acknowledge that he was aware Merchant was representing a defendant in the election case and asked why he speculated about such a thing given the circumstances. “I have no answer for that,” he replied.
“Why wouldn’t you have said ‘I don’t know’?” Sadow continued. “I don’t know,” Bradley said. “Maybe it’s because you know what the truth is,” Sadow said.
Defendants in the election case have alleged that Willis and Wade “have enriched themselves off this case” because of their romantic relationship. McAfee has said that it is “possible” Willis could be disqualified from further prosecuting the case against Trump and his co-defendants over the allegations. Willis has denied any wrongdoing.
During the two-day hearing McAfee held earlier this month in which Willis and Wade both testified, Bradley repeatedly said on the stand that he couldn’t answer questions because they were covered by attorney-client privilege.
Merchant has suggested that Bradley has personal knowledge that Willis and Wade’s relationship started before Wade was hired as a special prosecutor — which would conflict with their testimony in court.
In early February, Roman’s lawyers wrote in a filing that they believed Bradley has information about the timing of Willis and Wade’s relationship because he was friends with Wade before becoming his lawyer.
Willis and Wade both testified at the previous hearing that their romantic relationship ended during the summer of 2023.
Closing arguments on the motion to disqualify Willis based on the conflict of interest allegations are set to take place Friday and then it’s up to McAfee to issue a decision on the matter.
