All eyes were on a Fulton County courtroom on Thursday, Feb. 16, as a judge is commenced a hearing to determine whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be removed from the election interference indictment case.
Willis took the stand after Nathan Wade, whom she hired and admitted to having a personal relationship with, detailed his spending when the two were together on trips here and abroad.
Willie also testified under oath, openly sparring with defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant.
At one point, Willis said that she couldn’t wait to testify, “so I ran to the courtroom.”
Willis: ‘You Think I’m on Trial’
She also scolded Merchant on several occasions, telling her at one point, “You think I’m on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020,” she said, gesturing toward the attorneys representing defendants in the criminal case. “I’m not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.”
She later accused Merchant of being “intrusive.”
Political pundits are watching the case closely as Willis has had to defend her name more than once from allegations of impropriety after taking on presumptive Republican candidate for president.
In 2021, shortly after assuming office as district attorney, Willis launched an investigation into former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants for potential election interference.
A year later, in 2022, Willis successfully petitioned for the impaneling of a special purpose grand jury to further investigate the matter. The grand jury’s proceedings commenced in May and concluded in December of the same year.
Thursday’s hearing has been extended into Friday and will determine whether Willis and her office can continue to prosecute the case. Co-defendant Michael Roman and his legal team have claimed in court filings that Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade had an inappropriate relationship before Wade was hired.
In response, Willis and Wade acknowledged a personal relationship but stated that there is no conflict of interest and it began after he was hired and did not lead to any financial advantages.
Willis stuck to her story that the hiring of Wade was done because he is a consummate professional and nothing else.
Earlier in the day, when Wade was on the stand,
Nathan Wade said his romantic relationship with Willis ended around June 2023 but that they remain friends. “We’re very good friends,” Wade said under questioning from a Trump attorney. “Probably closer than ever because of these attacks.”
That statement and timeline was contradicted by Robin Yeartie, a former friend and employee of Willis, who said that the DA and Wade began their romantic relationship in 2019.
Final Word
Willis has inferred that she has had to do her job amid intense pressure on her personal life.
Speaking to a church in January, Willis said that she is far from perfect.
““You cannot expect black women to be perfect. We need to be allowed to stumble. We need grace. We are all sinners,” she said.
“We need your prayers, We need to be allowed to stumble. We need grace. With that type of support, we will move mountains and do Jesus’s will — stumbling all of the way!”
We’ll see how the hearing unfolds, but it’s no doubt that Republicans will celebrate if Willis is taken down and Democrats will breathe a sigh of relief if she is found to stay.
Last fall, she wrote a scathing letter to GOP Rep. Jim Jordan in response to his attacks.