"Literal soap opera": Trump case in "big trouble" after friend contradicts DA's relationship claim

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A former friend of Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis
contradicted her claim about the timeline of her relationship with a top
prosecutor in the criminal case against former President Donald Trump

.

Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ordered top prosecutor Nathan Wade to
testify about his relationship with Willis after a witness claimed that
the pair started dating earlier than they claimed, according to Politico.

Robin Yeartie, a former employee at the D.A.’s office and longtime friend
of Willis who said they lived together for a time, contradicted Willis’
claim that the relationship did not begin until after Wade was hired to
work on the case in 2021.

Yeartie, who said she had a falling out with Willis two years earlier,
said she had “no doubt” the pair were in a romantic relationship beginning
in 2019.

Willis claimed in a court filing that her relationship with Wade began in
2022.

Yeartie said she knew of the relationship because she saw “hugging,
kissing, just affection.”

Prosecutors argued that Yeartie was a disgruntled former employee seeking
to take down Willis.

Wade was ordered to testify by the judge and insisted that the
relationship began in “early” 2022, according to The New York Times.

“It's starting to feel like the dispute in Fulton County is going to come
down to semantics - for example, Wade and Willis may have dated
occasionally before 2022, but did not begin a ‘relationship,’ at least as
Wade defines it, before his appointment,” tweeted Randall Eliason, a law
professor at George Washington University. “Let's not get out over our
skis in Fulton County - so far a single defense witness, who may have an
ax to grind with the DA, has testified that the relationship began earlier
than Wade said it did,” he added.

Thursday’s hearing came about after Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for
Trump co-defendant and former campaign official Mike Roman, alleged an
improper relationship between Willis and Wade and claimed that Wade had
used his earnings from the case to finance lavish trips for the pair.

Wade claimed on Thursday that Willis reimbursed him for the trips in cash,
calling her an “independent strong woman” who insisted that “she is going
to pay her own way.”

The hearing was recessed until after 1 pm. It’s unclear if McAfee will
order Willis to testify.

Georgia State University Law Prof. Eric Segall described the hearing as a
“literal soup opera” playing out in Fulton County Superior Court.

“Unless there’s a surprise ending, the Ga case is in big trouble,” he
predicted.

MSNBC legal analyst Caroline Polisi called Yeartie contradicting Willis
“epic” and “monumental.”

“If things are going in the direction we think, Fani Willis lied to the
court, it’s game over for her. She will be disqualified. If they had a
relationship prior to when they represented truth to the court, it’s a
huge deal. I can’t overstate,” she said in a clip flagged by Mediaite.

Polisi told the outlet that Willis could be “disqualified, which means her
entire staff is disqualified, which means the case will have to be re-
assigned and languish with the PAC of Georgia, effectively killing the
case. Her credibility is completely shot.”

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Eliason argued that the hearing so far has only established that “Willis
and Wade have a relationship and that Wade went through a messy divorce,
both of which were uncontested. Nothing about Willis having any financial
stake in the case that would justify disqualification.”

But Segall argued that the prosecutors needed to make sure everything was
“kept squeaky clean” in their prosecution of Trump.

“No matter what happens next, this was terrible judgment by the DA and
Wade,” he wrote. “Really sad, maybe tragic. Infamous phone call happened
here.”

https://news.yahoo.com/literal-soap-opera-trump-case-181120848.html