Witness Prepared to Testify That Georgia Trump Prosecutor Lied: Filing

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Ga., on March 1, 2024. Alex Slitz/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

A special prosecutor, who was tasked with prosecuting former President Donald Trump, is accused of lying about when his romantic relationship began with the official who hired him, according to a witness who is prepared to testify in a filing entered on March 4.

Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor hired by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, has claimed he and Ms. Willis did not start the relationship until after he was hired in late 2021.

But the relationship actually began in 2019, after Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis met at a legal conference, according to Cindi Lee Yeager, a co-chief deputy district attorney for the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, the new filing states.

According to the filing from David Shafer, a co-defendant of President Trump, Ms. Yeager is prepared to testify about the conversations she had with Terence Bradley, who is a divorce attorney for Mr. Wade.

On March 1, Ms. Yeager told lawyers for Mr. Shafer and another co-defendant that Mr. Bradley related in the discussions with her that Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis met in 2019 and that “Mr. Wade began his romantic relationship with District Attorney Willis at or around this time.”

The filing, also citing Mr. Bradley, stated that “Mr. Wade had definitively begun a romantic relationship with Ms. Willis during the time Ms. Willis was running for district attorney from 2019 to 2020.”

Ms. Willis, a Democrat, and Mr. Wade have acknowledged meeting at the 2019 conference but say they only exchanged contact details at the time. They say they spoke additional times in 2019 and moving forward, but that the relationship did not start until 2022. They also say the relationship ended in 2023.

Defendants in the case against President Trump and others have moved to disqualify both Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis over their relationship.

Mr. Bradley, who is also Mr. Wade’s former law partner, testified in the disqualification proceedings after phone data showed Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis exchanged 12,000 text messages and over 2,000 calls in 2021.

Mr. Bradley was also asked about texts he sent to Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for one of President Trump’s co-defendants. In the texts, Mr. Bradley said the relationship between Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade started after they met in 2019, and “absolutely” began before Ms. Willis hired Mr. Wade. Mr. Bradley said the information he shared was based on speculation.

“I speculated on some things,” he testified.

Steve Sadow, a lawyer representing President Trump, told Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee that he could believe the texts over Mr. Bradley’s testimony. “You don’t have to accept the fact that he was speculating,” Mr. Sadow said.

Robin Yeartie, a friend of Ms. Willis who worked in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office before resigning, has also testified that the relationship started after the couple met in 2019. She said she saw Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis hugging and kissing before November 2021.

Adam Abbate, chief deputy attorney general for the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, told the hearing that both Mr. Bradley and Ms. Yeartie were “disgruntled.”

Proposal for Fresh Testimony

Judge McAfee heard closing arguments in the proceedings on March 1 and has said he would rule within two weeks.

In the new filing, Mr. Shafer outlined what Ms. Yeager conveyed to his counsel and proposed having her testify.

That would require the judge to reopen the proceedings.

“In the event that the court re-opens the hearing to receive additional evidence, as requested by the state and defendant former President Trump, Mr. Shafer requests that the defense be permitted to subpoena Ms. Yeager and present Ms. Yeager’s testimony relating to the matters set forth herein,” the filing states.

The filing says that Ms. Yeager came forward after she watched Mr. Bradley’s testimony because she “became concerned as a result of the fact that what Mr. Bradley testified to on the witness stand was directly contrary to what Mr. Bradley had told Ms. Yeager in person.”