There were several crucial aspects to Tuesday’s hearing in the trial surrounding Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis, focusing on the testimony of “star witness” Terrence Bradley.
Defense attorneys in former President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging racketeering case are hoping Willis will be dismissed as prosecutor. Attorneys of his and his co-defendants questioned Bradley repeatedly on Tuesday over messages he sent, saying a relationship between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade dated back to 2019.
Here are three telling signs from a hearing that could have wide-reaching implications on this trial and the futures of Willis, Wade, and Trump.
‘I was speculating,’ Bradley said about the start of Willis and Wade’s relationship
Defense lawyers in the racketeering case claim that Bradley, a former law partner of Wade’s and divorce attorney for him, revealed via text messages that the relationship between Willis and Wade began before Wade was appointed special prosecutor, presenting a conflict of interest.
Bradley confirmed the texts in court, but he said he was “speculating” at the time and did not have direct knowledge of when the relationship began.
“Do you recall me asking you, ‘Do you think it started before she hired him?’ And you said, ‘Absolutely.’ Do you recall that?” attorney Ashleigh Merchant asked.
“I see that in the text messages, yes,” Bradley said.
But when Merchant, who represents Mike Roman, a Trump co-defendant and former Trump campaign official, asked Bradley where he had heard the relationship began, Bradley said he was speculating.
“No one told me,” Bradley replied. “I was speculating.”
When asked by one of Trump’s lawyers why he did not just reply “I don’t know” when talking about the relationship timeline, Bradley said he has “no answer for that.”
“I don’t recall why I felt that it started at that time, but I do recall that he only met her, and I testified to that, that he met [Willis] at that conference in 2019,” Bradley said, claiming that he did not hear anything about the relationship directly from Wade.
A surprising suggestion
Merchant also asked Bradley whether he had been told directly by Wade that he had had sexual relations with Wiills in a law office that she was renting. But Bradley claimed that he did “not remember him saying that.”
He said he was told at “some point” about the relationship between Wills and Wade while Wade was a client of his between 2018 and 2022, but he did not say the exact date or year that it occurred.
Bradley also told Merchant via text that the pair had gone on vacations together. But on the stand, Bradley claimed any information on the vacations “would have come from my client at the time,” and he could not remember any details of the conversation surrounding the information.
Bradley ‘did not want’ to be a witness
It was an uncomfortable hearing on Tuesday, with many objections and repetitions. Bradley clearly did not wish to take the stand, going so far as to answer, “That is correct,” when he was asked if it were true that he “did not wish” to be a witness.
Bradley is still expected to testify a final time on Friday. His testimony could go a long way to deciding whether Willis will be able to continue prosecuting the case against Trump and his codefendants.
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Final arguments will also take place on Friday, when both parties will make their closing points concerning the disqualification complaint that began in January.
Merchant first filed the motion to disqualify Willis over the allegation that she financially benefited from Wade’s employment at the district attorney’s office.