The former divorce attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, special prosecutor Nathan Wade was back on the witness stand Tuesday afternoon at a hearing pertaining to the romantic relationship between Wade and District Attorney Fani Willis and said he couldn't remember when their relationship began.
The hearing was held a day after Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants, determined that some of Wade's communications with his former lawyer Terrence Bradley wouldn't be covered by attorney-client privilege, according to an email chain obtained by NBC News. The DA's office and a defense attorney who's involved in the case confirmed the emails' validity.
Wade was in court for the hearing, which began around 2 p.m. ET. He'd previously refused to waive attorney-client privilege over his communications with Bradley. McAfee met privately with Bradley and his attorney Monday before scheduling the hearing.
Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, asked Bradley when the relationship began, and he said he couldn't remember the date. "I do not have knowledge of when it started," Bradley said.
The issue is relevant because Merchant has argued that Wade and Willis were already romantically involved when she named him special prosecutor in the probe. Wade and Willis have said they became involved after he was appointed.
Merchant asked Bradley about a text message Bradley sent her claiming the pair had been involved before Willis was elected district attorney. Bradley said he was "speculating." "I never witnessed anything," he said.
He later acknowledged that "at some point" Wade told him he was dating Willis. "I can’t tell you what date that was," Bradley said, adding that the remark was "made in confidence." He wouldn't give a time frame for the conversation he had with Wade, except to say it was sometime while he was representing him, which was from 2018 to 2022.
Asked later whether Wade had told him that he had sex with Willis in a law office she was renting, Bradley said, “I do not remember him saying that.”
Merchant then pressed Bradley about his having told her in text messages that Wade and Willis took several trips together. He said that "any knowledge that I have of any trip would have come from my client at the time" but that he couldn't remember any details of the conversation that formed the basis for that knowledge.
Wade acknowledged having gone on trips with Willis when he testified in the case, but he said it was after he was appointed special prosecutor and they were dating. Bradley's comments suggested there were more trips than had previously been revealed.
Trump's attorney Steve Sadow grilled Bradley about another text exchange he had with Merchant, asking whether Wade and Willis had been involved before she became DA, and he replied, "Absolutely."
Bradley said the reply was "speculation on my part."
Sadow got him to acknowledge that he was aware that Merchant was representing a defendant in the election case and asked why he speculated about such a thing given the circumstances. "I have no answer for that," he replied.
"Why wouldn’t you have said, ‘I don’t know’?" Sadow continued. "I don’t know," Bradley said. "Maybe it’s because you know what the truth is," Sadow said.
Defendants in the election case have alleged that Willis and Wade “have enriched themselves off this case” because of their romantic relationship. Wade has been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars since Willis appointed him special prosecutor in November 2021.
McAfee has said it is "possible" Willis could be disqualified from further prosecuting the case against Trump and his co-defendants over the allegations. Willis has denied any wrongdoing.
During a two-day hearing McAfee held this month in which Willis and Wade both testified, Bradley repeatedly said on the stand that he couldn’t answer questions because they were covered by attorney-client privilege.
Merchant has suggested that Bradley has personal knowledge that Willis and Wade’s relationship started before Wade was hired as a special prosecutor — which would conflict with their testimony in court.
Early this month, Roman's lawyers wrote in a filing that they believed Bradley has information about the timing of Willis and Wade’s relationship because he was friends with Wade before he became his lawyer.
Willis and Wade both testified at the previous hearing that their romantic relationship started during 2022 and ended during the summer of 2023.
Closing arguments on the motion to disqualify Willis based on the conflict-of-interest allegations are set for Friday. After that, it's up to McAfee to issue a decision.
