The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office decided not to put Fani Willis back on the witness stand on Friday after the DA’s explosive testimony Thursday about her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired for her 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump.
The decision to keep Willis off the stand comes after multiple portions of her Thursday testimony became heated as defense attorneys grilled her about her relationship with Wade and her handling of her office’s finances. Willis faces possible disqualification from her case against Trump over allegations that she has misused taxpayer dollars and showed favoritism to Wade, according to the judge overseeing the case.
The defense is expected to question Terrence Bradley — Wade’s former law partner and one-time friend — while the district attorney’s office has called on Willis’ father, John C. Floyd III, to testify, Fox News reported. Prosecutors also called former Georgia Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes to the stand, and he praised both Willis and Wade, calling the district attorney “a very qualified young woman.”
The first sign of trouble for Willis popped up on Thursday when Robin Bryant-Yeartie, a former employee in the DA’s office, testified by video conference earlier in the day that Willis and Wade had been in a romantic relationship from 2019 to at least 2022. That contradicted claims by both Willis and Wade that their personal relationship did not begin until 2022.
Willis testified that Bryant-Yeartie “betrayed” their friendship, saying she has “not spoken to Robin in over a year.”
“I certainly do not consider her a friend now. I think that she — you know, there’s a saying no good deed goes unpunished and I think that she’d betrayed our friendship,” she said.
At one point during the Democratic district attorney’s testimony, Judge Scott McAfee had to step in and call for a five-minute recess after Willis began yelling at defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant over her line of questioning.
“Let’s be clear, because you’ve lied,” Willis yelled at Merchant, holding up documents. “It is a lie! It is a lie!”
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“You’ve been intrusive into people’s lives,” the DA continued to go after Merchant. “You think I’m on trial. I’m not on trial no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.”
After returning to the courtroom, McAfee told Willis that he would be forced to strike her testimony if she engaged in any more outbursts on the stand.
????BREAKING: Fani Willis EXPLODES on the witness stand as she’s asked when her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade ended. Court takes 5 minute break for her to cool down. pic.twitter.com/Yrfjw8U8KM
— Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) February 15, 2024
Willis vehemently denied being a hostile witness and accused Merchant of having interests that were “contrary to democracy.”
????FANI WILLIS RATTLED ON THE STAND:
"I am not a hostile witness. I VERY much want to be here. Ms. Merchant's interests are p…are..contadi… contrary to democracy, your honor, not to mine!" pic.twitter.com/3tf2ojEfWt
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 15, 2024
Amanda Prestigiacomo and Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.