On Wednesday, a long hearing took place before a Georgia state Senate committee. In it, the defense attorney who first cried wolf about the personal relationship between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade argued why Willis needs to be punished.
The DA also explained to lawmakers how she discovered their romance. For several hours, Sen. Bill Cowsert, the Republican chairman of the Georgia Senate’s Special Committee on Investigations, questioned Ashleigh Merchant, the defense attorney for Michael Roman, a Trump co-defendant charged in Fulton County’s election interference case.
The panel subpoenaed Merchant for her testimony. “We’re tasked with investigating and finding the true facts,” Cowsert stated, explaining why they were holding the hearing.
He added that the committee will, if necessary, amend or create new statutes. These new statutes will, according to him, “build guardrails” that will “restore the public faith in our criminal justice system.”
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The Senate committee lacks the power to disqualify Willis from prosecuting the election interference case. The hearing was the first in a series of hearings investigating Willis for the potential misuse of state funds and power for personal gain.
Merchant was very clear about wanting Willis to be disqualified. She alleged a conflict of interest exists because of Willis and Wade’s relationship. One they recently said in court ended last summer.
The DA specifically argued that Willis shouldn’t have hired Wade as a special prosecutor in the election interference case. As far as she is concerned, it violates county policy on nepotism and relationships.
She also alleged once more that Willis benefitted from her appointment of Wade by accepting trips that he sponsored. Merchant alleges that they were in a romantic relationship before Willis made him a special prosecutor in November 2021.
Of course, the former couple denied that accusation, saying it began in early 2022. In her testimony Wednesday, Merchant claimed that Wade’s former law partner and former divorce lawyer, Terrence Bradley, first told her that they were seeing each other.
Additionally, data she obtained on cell phone pinging was damning. It shows there were 12,000 voice and text interactions between Wade and Willis in 2021.
During the hearing, Merchant also alleged that Willis received extra funding for homicides and COVID backlogs but used at least part of that funding for the election case instead.
She claims that Willis hired Wade in a way that lacked oversight and then paid him more than other, more experienced special prosecutors. She also mentioned Wade’s offer to her client, Roman. It included a plea offer of a $5,000 fine and a misdemeanor. However, they did not accept it.
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The only other lawmaker who questioned Merchant on Wednesday was Democratic state Sen. Harold V. Jones II. He was skeptical about Merchant’s argument on disqualifying Willis, saying there was a contradiction in the case she cited in a court and the points she made Wednesday.
Jones said the court said in that case, “What you have to show is there’s an actual unfairness to the defendant in the trial,” referring to Roman. “Can you point to any unfairness in the trial that’s taken place?”
Merchant did not answer that question. Instead, she said her argument is that there’s a conflict of interest because Willis and Wade were “sleeping together, and he was paying for trips for them to go on, and they were hiding it from the taxpayers.”
The subpoena had Merchant bring various documents, including her text history with Bradley. But while the panel has subpoena power, the committee lacks the authority to discipline Willis. If its members are able to find wrongdoing, they could either refer the case to proper governing authorities or recommend new laws.
According to Cowsert, the investigation will take “many months” to complete, and there will be more subpoenas. Asked specifically about a potential subpoena of Willis, Cowsert said, “I don’t know yet.”
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The judge overseeing the Fulton County election interference case against Trump and his co-defendants, Scott McAfee, recently sat through testimony from Willis and Wade and other witnesses as part of the effort to disqualify Willis from prosecuting the case. He revealed last Friday that he would make his decision within two weeks.
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