The newly revealed text messages between defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant and Nathan Wade’s one-time friend and law partner Terrence Bradley are absolutely stunning. They completely undermine the testimony we heard from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Wade.
I know it’s been a while since I’ve been in the courtroom, but I practiced law for 10 years and have never seen this level of dishonesty by officers in the court.
The Evidence
In my opinion, we had not one, not two, but three officers of the court take the stand and lie. Willis and Wade both lied about when their affair began. I believe they also lied about the cash payments as reimbursements for trips they took together. And I believe Bradley was lying when he said he didn’t remember any of his text exchanges with Merchant from six weeks ago.
Maybe Judge Scott McAfee can’t technically consider all this, but he knows a good portion of it. And now the Georgia State Senate has subpoenaed Merchant’s texts, which means they are about to become public record. The judge doesn’t want to embarrass himself. Going with the CNN version of ‘Terrence Bradley said he didn’t remember anything, so I can’t really put any weight on this allegation’ is not going to happen now.
I think Judge McAfee has been doing a good job. He is going to look very foolish if he doesn’t have this situation thoroughly investigated. We may have as many as three officers of the court perpetrating a fraud on the court. If he just resolves it by saying ‘not enough evidence to disqualify them,’ he’s going to look like a fool. He can’t allow that for his own dignity and for the dignity of the court. No one can get away with this.
Disqualification and Debarment
I believe Willis and Wade lied on the stand and, at a minimum, need to be disqualified from the election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants.
The Georgia State Senate is going to have its hands full and so is the independent special prosecutor that needs to be brought in to look into these two. We do need a special prosecutor, though not against Trump. We need one against Willis and Wade to figure out whether two previously respected officers of the court took the stand and lied under oath about material facts. That’s what will make it perjury.
These are material facts: Did they say this affair began in 2022 to cover their own hide, to cover a kickback scheme, to cover unlawful and unethical behavior? It certainly appears that way. This is not Terence Bradley’s ‘I don’t recall, I don’t recall, I don’t recall.’ That doesn’t get you a perjury charge, which is why he answered that way on the stand yesterday.
When you look at this case as a whole, it really is well beyond whether Willis and Wade need to be disqualified. An investigation is needed into whether they should be disbarred or even face criminal charges if it is found that material representations made under oath were knowingly false.
In that scenario, Willis and Wade will be lucky if they are not brought up on felony charges, which requires a fine and or jail time in Georgia.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 733 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.