Hearings in Georgia and Florida on Trump’s criminal cases

Attorney Craig Gillen speaks during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case on Friday in Atlanta.

Craig Gillen, a defense attorney for David Shafer, accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade of committing “fraud on this court” when the pair claimed that Wade did not provide any financial benefit to Willis in their relationship.

“We’ve got all the records showing from Mr. Wade about the payment for these – it’s trips for the cruises, for the flights, all this stuff,” Gillen said.

“What’s the only way that they can save themselves? Pay no attention to the records, pay no attention to that they can save themselves? Pay no attention to the records, pay no attention to the airlines, into the flights, and vacations and the cruises – I paid him back in cash,” he added.

Willis testified that she paid back Wade in cash for the flights and other expenses he paid for on their trips. But Gillen argued that they could not come up with any records showing repayments.

“Show us your receipts. Where did you take cash out of the bank ever? I don’t have any. Well, show us the deposits that he had. Well never, we don’t have any,” he said. “Just please trust us and believe us, because it’s our only way out of the trap that they set for themselves.”

Gillen concluded: “Prosecutors don’t act like this. Lawyers don’t act like this. These people, your honor, is a systematic misconduct. And they need to go.”

Prosecutor David Harbach said the possibility of threats and harassment toward witnesses and others linked to the Mar-a-Lago documents case was “not a hypothetical concern.”

He is arguing in favor of keeping redacted details in several filings from the defendants in the case.

The special counsel’s office says the redactions protect details about witnesses, and are necessary given the harassment and threats that have already been seen in Trump legal matters.

“There has been so much harassment, intimidation threats to witnesses,’ he said, adding that court staff and law enforcement have also been targeted.

Before Harbach argued in favor of keeping the details under seal, a lawyer for a coalition of press outlets, including CNN, argued for transparency.

Judge Scott McAfee raised questions about the evidence in text messages from Nathan Wade’s former law partner Terrence Bradley, raising doubts over his knowledge of a relationship between Wade and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Donald Trump attorney Steve Sadow argued that Bradley – who had texted “absolutely” in a message to another defense attorney when asked about when their relationship began – was purposely evasive in his testimony claiming he was speculating about the timeline.

Bradley’s text message has been a key piece of evidence the defendants have put forward in their bid to disqualify Willis, arguing that it shows Willis and Wade lied about when their relationship began.

But when he was on the witness stand on Tuesday, Bradley said he was speculating. McAffee, however, raised questions about what could corroborate Bradley’s text if Bradley’s testimony was “impeached.”

“Usually if a state has a witness that goes sideways, they’ve got them locked in. They’ve sat down with a detective. They’ve got a full statement. We don’t have that here,” McAfee continued.

Sadow argued that Bradley’s text message should be considered such a prior statement.

“What you have is a text message, which is a prior statement of Bradley that he did on his own. That was not given to him by someone,” Sadow said.

Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee presides in court during a hearing in Atlanta on Friday.

Judge Scott McAfee suggested that – if it ends up that the lead Fulton County prosecutors lied on the witness stand about their romantic relationship – the remedy might be a professional disciplinary action at the state bar, instead of the much more aggressive step of removing them from the Georgia election subversion case against Donald Trump.

Just because McAfee asked the question, it doesn’t necessarily mean this is how he is leaning. Trump lawyer Steven Sadow pushed back, saying that a finding of dishonesty to the court would be enough to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team from the case.

Sadow and other defense attorneys are arguing that Willis and her top prosecutor, Nathan Wade, lied in their testimony when they claimed their romantic relationship began after he was hired in 2021. The defense attorneys claim it began before Willis decided to add Wade to the prosecution team.

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee presides over court on Friday in Atlanta.

Judge Scott McAfee pressed defense attorney John Merchant about whether the dollar amount of what the defendants allege District Attorney Fani Willis received from special prosecutor Nathan Wade mattered in his decision on whether to disqualify Willis.

McAfee and Merchant got into a back-and-forth over whether there was a “materiality” requirement in the disqualification question.

The allegations: Merchant and the other defense attorneys in the racketeering case have alleged that Willis received trips from Wade after hiring him for the Fulton County case. Willis says she paid Wade back for the trips she took.

Merchant argued that the dollar figure of the benefit wasn’t the key point. “I think the continuum involves you looking at whether or not, in the grand scheme of things, it violates the Constitution and whether or not there’s an appearance of a conflict, and the appearance suggests that she actually received a benefit,” Merchant added. “She said she got a benefit. She said she paid back certain amounts.”

“Just from a legal perspective though, you’re saying we can’t just say dollar amount, look no further – there has to be a totality of the circumstances and analysis?” McAfee asked.

“There’s no law on it. I can’t give you a straight answer,” Merchant said. “I think if we build a materiality requirement into the case law, then you’re down a slippery slope. Is $50 enough? Is $100 enough? It’s not necessarily the amount of the money. It’s the fact that she received it.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 15 in Atlanta.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis reemerged in the spotlight last year after her office charged 19 co-defendants, including Donald Trump, regarding efforts by the former president and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

She campaigned on the premise of restoring integrity to the Fulton County district attorney’s office, was elected after ousting six-term incumbent Paul Howard and inherited a stack of backlogged cases. Within a month, her office was firing off letters to Georgia officials asking them to preserve documents related to attempts to influence the state’s 2020 election.

Besides leading the election subversion probe, Willis has also brought anti-corruption indictments against Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug and his associates. The district attorney has spoken fondly of RICO — the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act — and has used it in unorthodox ways to bring charges against school officials and musicians, including Young Thug.

From California by way of Washington, DC, Willis obtained her undergraduate degree from Howard University in 1992 and graduated from Emory School of Law in 1996, according to her biography. Her name, Fani, is Swahili and means “prosperous,” and her father was a lawyer and Black Panther.

According to a South Atlanta Magazine profile, she worked in the private sector for five years before becoming assistant district attorney for Fulton County in 2001.

Read more about Fulton County’s first female district attorney.

Attorney John Merchant speaks during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case on Friday in Atlanta.

The standard for a disqualifying conflict of interest should be “you know it when you see it,” defense attorney John Merchant said Friday at a hearing over potential disqualification of the district attorney who brought the Georgia election subversion case.

Merchant and the other defense attorneys are trying to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over allegations of a conflict of interest and self-dealing, tied to her romantic relationship with a top prosecutor that she hired in 2021. The prosecutors deny wrongdoing.

The phrase is a reference to a famous Supreme Court case on obscenity, where one of the justices said, “I know it when I see it.”

Attorney John Merchant during the hearing in Atlanta on Friday.

A defense attorney began Friday’s hearing by arguing that just “an appearance of a conflict of interest” between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her top prosecutor would be “sufficient” to disqualify her from the election subversion case they’ve brought against Donald Trump and others.

“I want to make clear to the court that – the law in Georgia suggests and is very clear that we can demonstrate an appearance of a conflict of interest and that is sufficient,” John Merchant, a defense attorney for Mike Roman, told Judge Scott McAfee.

“The reason why the appearance of a conflict is so prescient here is because if this court allows this kind of behavior to go on and allows DAs across state by its order to engage in these kinds of activities, the entire public confidence in the system will be shot,” Merchant added. “And the integrity of the system will be undermined.”

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee presides in court on Friday in Atlanta.

Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the Fulton County racketeering case against Donald Trump and his co-defendants, suggested he could rule today in the defendants’ attempt to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

McAfee noted that both the prosecution and defense were seeking to submit additional evidence in the hearing on Willis’ disqualification. The judge said that he might be able to make a decision on Willis after hearing legal arguments in today’s hearing, even if there is additional evidence.

“I think we’ve reached the point where I’d like to hear more of how the legal argument apply to what has already been presented, and it may already be possible for me to make a decision without those needing to be material to that decision,” McAfee said.

Today’s hearing is expected to conclude the days-long presentation into whether allegations around Willis’ romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest that should bar her from continuing to prosecute the case.

Judge Scott McAfee presides over a hearing into 'misconduct' allegations against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 27, in Atlanta.

The hearing regarding the potential disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has begun.

The hearing in front of Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee will conclude defense attorneys’ days-long presentation into whether allegations around Willis’ romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest that should bar her from continuing to prosecute the case.