Robin Bryant Yeartie testified on February 15 that the romantic relationship between Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis and Trump special prosecutor Nathan Wade started in 2019, contradicting a court filing by Willis and Wade, which gave a different timeline.
Bryant Yeartie testified that she was Willis’s friend and saw Willis kiss and hug Wade before he was appointed special prosecutor. The friendship between Bryant Yeartie and Willis ended when Bryant Yeartie resigned from her position at the DA’s office after being told she had to resign or be fired, Bryant Yeartie testified on February 15.
The Washington Post called Bryant Yeartie’s testimony a “blockbuster.”
🚨 BREAKING: Witness testifies that Fani Willis’ relationship with Nathan Wade started in 2019.
Willis previously submitted a court filing that contained an affidavit from Wade, in which he said the pair did not start dating until after Willis named Wade the special prosecutor in the Trump prosecution in November 2021, paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars in public money.
Willis’s court filing said that Willis and Wade “have been professional associates and friends since 2019.” Still, it asserted that “there was no personal relationship between them in November 2021 at the time of Special Prosecutor Wade’s appointment.”
But Willis’s former friend, who took the stand in a motion hearing by a Trump case defendant seeking to disqualify Willis and Wade from the prosecution, contradicted that timeline. She testified that Willis told her personally that she was in a romantic relationship with Wade as far back as 2019.
Wade’s ex-wife Joycelyn Wade previously released credit card statements that showed Wade paying for trips for Willis. Willis says she has no financial conflict of interest because she and Wade split expenses for personal travel and did not otherwise commingle their finances.
Wade took the stand right after Bryant Yeartie. Under oath, he again repeated that his romantic relationship with Willis started in “early 2022.” They met at a 2019 judicial conference, he said. He said they talked on the phone multiple times before she was elected DA. Wade also testified that, although he used his credit card to pay for trips with Willis, she paid him back in cash. You can read more about Wade’s testimony here.
Willis then took the stand and in heated testimony accused Roman’s attorney of lying about her and insisting she reimbursed Wade with cash for trips. She said the romantic relationship started in 2022. Read about her testimony here.
Here’s what you need to know:
Robin Bryant Yeartie Testified That She Saw Fani Willis & Nathan Wade Hugging & Kissing Before Willis Named Wade Special Prosecutor
Bryant Yeartie testified that Willis told her she was in a romantic relationship with Wade before Willis named him to be the special prosecutor. She said they were “just talking in general,” but couldn’t provide the specific date.
She said she did not remember exactly what Willis told her.
Bryant Yeartie said she had “no doubt” that Willis and Wade were in a romantic relationship.
Asked if she believed that Willis and Wade were in a romantic relationship beginning in 2019, Bryant Yeartie responded, “Yes.”
Willis had taken over her lease after moving out of a house she shared with her father. She said that Willis needed her own space from her father.
Bryant Yeartie said this was based on her personal observations and because she spoke to Willis about her romantic relationship with Wade. She said “yes” when asked whether Willis told her, on more than one occasion, that she was engaged in a romantic relationship with Wade in 2020 and 2021.
She said she observed them “hugging, kissing, just affection” in a social setting. She said she was not aware of any trips taken.
She was not aware whether they spent the evening overnight and said that Willis paid rent on the condo.
Robin Bryant Yeartie Testified That She Resigned From the DA’s Office, Ending Her Friendship With DA Fani Willis
Wade\’s law firm/GettyFani Willis and Nathan Wade.
Bryant Yeartie testified that she had resigned from the DA’s office because “a number of things” were happening in the office. After she resigned from the DA’s office, Bryant Yeartie said, “We never spoke after that.”
Asked if she was disciplined several times, she said no. Asked if she was written up for poor performance, she said, “Once, not several.” Asked if she was told her performance was insufficient, and she was going to be fired, she said, “No. Maybe at the end.”
Bryant Yeartie said she was told she was going to be fired from the DA’s office if she didn’t resign.
“A situation happened that wasn’t my fault and either was going to resign or be let go,” she said.
“It was kind of a spiral,” she added. She said the circumstances of her leaving the DA’s office ended her friendship with Willis.
The judge said he was denying the state’s motion to quash a subpoena of Wade because Bryant Yeartie testified the relationship predated the time frame he put in his affidavit.
Wade’s former law partner Terrence Bradley was also supposed to testify about his knowledge of Wade’s and Willis’s relationship timeline but is raising questions about attorney-client privilege because he once acted as Wade’s divorce attorney.
READ NEXT: Nathan Wade Testifies That DA Fani Willis Paid Him Back in Cash.