By Jack Phillips
Former President Donald Trumpâs lawyers on Sunday afternoon fired back in court against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willisâs latest filing that attempted to disprove new allegations against her and her special prosecutor, Nathan Wade.
Over the weekend, Ms. Willisâs office disputed in a court filing a previous Trump submission that used a private investigatorâs analysis of Mr. Wadeâs phone records to suggest that he visited her condo far more times than what he claimed in a recent court hearing. Recent allegations from a Trump co-defendant in his racketeering and election case stated that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade were engaged in a clandestine relationship and that she financially benefitted from the arrangement, which the two later confirmed.
âThe records do not prove, in any way, the content of the communications between Special Prosecutor Wade and District Attorney Willis; they do not prove that Special Prosecutor Wade was ever at any particular location or address; they do not prove that Special Prosecutor Wade and District Attorney Willis were ever in the same place during any of the times listed,â Ms. Willisâs office wrote in the filing.
But in the most recent submission from the Trump team, they disagreed. They said that the âprosecution will surely point out that nobody knows what was happening in the house between midnight and 3:28 a.m. on September 12, or between midnight and 5:00 a.m. on November 30,â in 2021, referring to the private investigatorâs analysis.
In his testimony earlier this month, Mr. Wade stated in court that he doesnât recall spending that night at Ms. Willisâs home. However, if the cellphone data and records are entered as evidence in the disqualification case and proven true, it will suggest that he did, in fact, spend the night at her home on multiple occasions.
âThe witnesses in this caseâboth Wade and Willisâtestified that their romantic relationship did not begin until March or April of 2022 and that they had never spent the night together prior to the Spring of 2022,â they said, adding that âthe evidence offered by the defense to refute this testimony is admissibleâ in court.
âGiven the testimony of Wade and Willis that they never spent the night together at the Hapeville condominium, the evidenceâactual record evidence, not just an opinion or speculationâthat proves that while talking on the phone with DA Willis,â it continued, âWade drove from near his house to a location near her condo (if not exactly to her condo) at midnight, where he then remained for five hoursânot once but twice in two monthsâqualifies as relevant evidence.â
And Charles Mittelstadt, the investigator, isnât being offered as an expert witness and âdoes not claim to know,â it added. âNeither does President Trump or any other defendant in this case.â
âOnly two people know,â his lawyers wrote. âThey are certainly the ones who should testify and say exactly what was happening on those occasions, so nobody will complain about improper speculation, or improper efforts to distort the truth, or nefarious contacts with the media.â
Instead, according to the lawyers, all they have heard from Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis âso far has been that they didnât have a romantic relationship until 2022,â but itâs âhighly significant that the Stateâs response did not even attempt to challenge theâ the cellphone data analysis. It was referring to court testimony from the two stating their relationship started after Mr. Wade was hired in the Trump case.
During the court testimony, a witness in the case who testified against Ms. Willis, Robin Yeartie, alleged that their relationship started in 2019. Notably, Ms. Willis said that Ms. Yeartie was a former friend and it was revealed she owned the condo in which Ms. Willis used to live.
On Feb. 23, when the Mittelstadt analysis was submitted, the Trump team wrote that it would add weight to arguments that Ms. Willis should step down from the case after it was confirmed the two were in a relationship.
The investigator also said in an affidavit that the two made more than 2,000 calls and exchanged 12,000 text messages in 2021âmonths before they said the relationship started and before Mr. Wade was hired in the case,
What the DA Argued
In response to the Mittelstadt affidavit, Ms. Willis wrote that the analyst of Mr. Wadeâs cellphone data is inadmissible in court because it has âboth telephone records that have not been admitted into evidence and an affidavit and other documents containing unqualified opinion evidence.â
The court, her office added, would have to exclude the evidence or make considerations of her ârebuttal evidence that demonstrates the unreliability of the unqualified opinion evidence improperly introduced by Defendant Trump.â
âThe records do nothing more than demonstrate that Special Prosecutor Wadeâs telephone was located somewhere within a densely populated multiple-mile radius where various residences, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and other businesses are located,â she wrote.
On Feb. 16, Ms. Willis testified about the relationship, saying she didnât financially benefit and argued that she paid Mr. Wade back for vacations with her own cash. The district attorney was supposed to testify on Feb. 17, but prosecutors, without providing a specific reason, she she wouldnât.
The judge overseeing the matter, Scott McAfee, has set a new hearing for Friday, March 1, in the disqualification case.