'I never witnessed anything': Trump lawyers’ star witness a dud in GA disqualification effort
Attorneys representing former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants in Fulton County, Georgia were banking on the witness testimony of lawyer Terrence Bradley to finally disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis. But they came up empty-handed after Tuesday's hearing.
Bradley is a former associate of special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who previously admitted to having a romantic relationship with Willis. Attorney Ashleigh Merchant — who represents Fulton County co-defendant Michael Roman — alleged that their relationship constituted a conflict of interest and has been waging a crusade to convince Judge Scott McAfee to disqualify both Willis and Wade from the prosecution of her client.
Merchant and others were hoping Bradley's testimony would prove Wade and Willis were lying about the time in which they dated. But as Salon recently reported, Bradley failed to give defense lawyers any ammunition against the prosecution.
READ MORE: Fani Willis in testy exchange: I'm not the one 'on trial for trying to steal an election'
"I do not have knowledge of it starting or when it started," Bradley said in response to a question about Wade and Willis' relationship. "I never witnessed anything. So, you know, it was speculation."
Both Merchant and defense counsel Steve Sadow — who is representing Trump — peppered Bradley with questions about when he first learned Wade and Willis were dating. Bradley had a text message conversation with Merchant in which he said the two prosecutors were seeing each other in 2019, though when on the witness stand, Bradley told Sadow he was just speculating. When Sadow asked "why in the heck" Bradley speculated about that, Bradley simply responded by saying he had "no answer."
Even Judge McAfee was growing frustrated with defense lawyers' questioning after Bradley failed to unearth any smoking gun evidence that would merit disqualification. Lawfare correspondent Anna Bower tweeted that McAfee urged Merchant to "move on" from questions regarding her text conversation with Bradley in which he mentioned that Wade and Willis took trips together.
McAfee may issue a final ruling on the disqualification question as soon as this week. If he rules in Willis' favor, it's likely Willis will push for a trial date to be officially scheduled.
READ MORE: Fani Willis admits to relationship with Nathan Wade but dismisses 'irrelevant allegations'
Click here to read Salon's report in full.
