It is a huge day for Donald Trump and the 2024 presidential election. One of the four criminal cases against Trump could effectively end today as the district attorney on it could potentially be exposed – once and for all – as a liar, a perjurer, and corrupt. If she goes, the whole case could go in a prosecution that was looking very scary for Trump given the rapidity of Fani Willis and the jury pool in Fulton County, Georgia.
The Allegations
Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is holding a hearing at 2pm Tuesday with Terrence Bradley, the former attorney, friend, and one-time law partner of Nathan Wade. Wade is a special prosecutor in the case against Trump who stands accused of engaging in a kind of improper kickback scheme with Willis with whom he had an extramarital affair.
The allegations are as follows:
- Willis hired her alleged lover, Wade, to work on the Trump case.
- She capped his hours at a higher number and paid him more than the other two special prosecutors that she brought in and far more than any assistant DA in her office.
- The two of them enjoyed the fruits of those payments on lavish vacations in places like the Bahamas, Aruba, and Napa paid for by Wade.
The argument is that all of this created a conflict of interest, or at least the appearance of one, for prosecutors whose mission is supposed to be the pursuit of justice, not the pursuit of piña colada by the sea on the taxpayers dime.
Both Wayne and Willis claimed the affair did not begin until after Willis hired him in November 2021. They say it started in early 2022 and have testified there were no kickbacks, that Willis repaid Wade for all of those trips in cash, with no receipts, no ATM withdrawal slips, no deposit records, nor anything else to document the alleged repayments.
Robin Yeartie’s Testimony
Willis’ longtime friend Robin Yeartie took the stand on February 16 at the hearing on the motion to disqualify and told the court the affair began long before 2022. She said it was as far back as 2019. She said she saw it with her own eyes and she also heard about it from Willis, her good friend. There was “no doubt” in her mind about it.
Willis dismissed Yeartie from the DA’s office where she worked for a time and the state argued she had a motive to lie, but that was not effectively fleshed out on the stand. At all. They just got her to testify that she was booted. Lots of people get fired and would not go on to perjure themselves to get back at their old boss. To do so would be a felony. This is not like two gals at a bar talking about a third. This woman is under oath on the witness stand in a court proceeding.
They did nothing to prove to us that Robin Yeartie is the kind of person who would go that far to get back at someone who let her go from a job. And despite all their promises that they were going to put on witness testimony showing that she’s a liar, it didn’t happen. They didn’t bring a soul.
The Phone Records
Then there are Nathan Wade’s phone records that the Trump defense counsel got a hold of. The prosecution wants to keep them out of a hearing if that happens this Friday. If they come in, however, they show that these two called each other more than 2,000 times and texted each other nearly 12,000 times in an 11-month period in 2021. That’s an average of six calls and nearly 36 texts a day. That is before they claim their affair began. They were allegedly platonic friends.
The phone records also show that Wade appears to have visited Willis’ home as many as 35 times in 2021 – before they say their affair began – including at least two overnights complete with what looks like the ‘got home safely’ texts. Any thinking person can see what was going on here.
Could the judge nonetheless refuse to consider the cell phone evidence? Yes, he could say it was filed too late or is not conclusive. But cell phone tower data is used all the time by prosecutors in criminal cases.
Terrence Bradley
All of which brings us to Terence Bradley, Nathan Wade’s old pal and today’s star witness. He tried to get out of testifying at the hearing on whether Willis and Wade should be disqualified two weeks ago, despite the fact that it appears he had already given up the game before he raised those objections,
He exchanged text messages with Ashleigh Merchant – the attorney for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman – that said the motion to disqualify “looks good.” According to Merchant, he also confirmed her allegations about when the affair began. She read at least two of them into the record at the DQ hearing. In one of them, Merchant asked Bradley if he knew anyone who would give her an affidavit about the affair and he responded, “No one would freely burn that bridge.”
Merchant sought to confirm those messages and others with Bradley and to get him talking about what he knows about this affair at the hearing two weeks ago, but he clammed up on the stand and repeatedly cited attorney client privilege. Those privilege claims have not held up.
At a closed door meeting with Judge McAfee yesterday – during which Wade was reportedly right outside waiting in the courtroom – Bradley tried to justify his privilege assertions again. This would have been very hard for him to do since we know for a fact he already disclosed much about this to attorney Ashleigh Merchant. So either he was wrong to say they were privileged or he was right to say they were a privilege, which would have made his disclosure to Merchant improper and unethical. It’s a tough spot to be in, but I think I’d rather be in the mistakenly asserted privilege on the stand camp.
Late yesterday, the judge issued a ruling that hasn’t been released publicly yet. But The New York Times is reporting “the court believes that the interested parties did not meet their burden of establishing that the communications are covered by the attorney client privilege and, therefore, the hearing can resume as to Mr. Bradley’s examination.”
‘It’s Go Time’
Thus, it would seem Terrence Bradley must now reveal what he knows about the relationship between Fani Willis and Nathan Wade. It’s go time. If he testifies consistent with what is in his texts to Merchant, there is zero doubt that they should be thrown off of this case. Lie to the judge under oath about the nature of their potentially conflicted relationship and continue on with impunity? I don’t think so.
Even Fani Willis’ defenders get stuck at this point. They know very well they can’t stay on this case. These folks may not care about the vacations or the affair, but any honest lawyer will tell you an officer of the court lying to the judge under any circumstances is a serious ethical breach and a felony. The lie here would be a cover up of their conflict of interest and the alleged kickback scheme. They will be lucky not to wind up convicted felons, never mind prosecutors on this case.
Those are the stakes today. Will Terrence Bradley say on the stand what he said to Ms. Merchant in these texts, or will he hem and haw again and try to protect his friend? If he confirms the affair began prior to 2022, expect the state to once again attempt to attack his character.
What Willis and Wade should do instead is spare themselves and the citizens of Fulton County the embarrassment of this spectacle and resign. It will do Fani Willis no good in her quest to avoid ethics charges with the bar and others to continue this fight if Terrence Bradley does her in today. Judge McAfee should not have to order these globe-trotting love birds off of this case. They should do the right thing and step down.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 732 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.