Special counsel Nathan Wade’s former law partner attempted Tuesday to walk back his incriminating timeline for when Mr. Wade became romantically involved with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Terrence Bradley, also Mr. Wade’s divorce attorney, insisted from the stand during combative testimony that he was “speculating” when he said his former law partner began dating Ms. Willis.
The defense attorneys in the Georgia courtroom accused Mr. Bradley of changing his story and clamming up on the stand to protect Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis, whose affair now jeopardizes their case against former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Bradley previously told defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant in a series of text messages that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade “absolutely” began dating before Ms. Willis hired Mr. Wade to dig into Mr. Trump’s actions regarding the 2020 election in Georgia.
Yet Mr. Bradley refused to be a star witness for Ms. Merchant. He testified that he had no idea when Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade got together.
“I don’t recall any specific dates, no ma’am,” Mr. Bradley told Ms. Merchant, an attorney for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman.
“There wasn’t a football game. There wasn’t something I can attribute to him telling me whatever,” he said.
Mr. Trump and 18 co-defendants face a criminal indictment accusing them of violating Georgia racketeering laws by pressuring state officials to root out fraud in the 2020 election and overturn Joseph R. Biden’s win in the state.
Mr. Roman filed a bombshell motion this year saying Ms. Willis and her entire office should be kicked off the case because she took lavish trips with Mr. Wade, giving her a financial incentive to prosecute the case as Mr. Wade received taxpayer money for his work on the investigation.
The situation grew into a mini-trial of Ms. Willis and forced her and Mr. Wade to delve into intimate details of their relationship from the witness stand.
Mr. Willis and Mr. Wade said their relationship began in 2022, after Mr. Wade’s hiring in November 2021, and ended in mid-2023. They said it was not grounds for disqualification under Georgia law.
Some witnesses contested that timeline. Defense attorneys submitted cellphone tower records suggesting Mr. Wade visited Ms. Willis’ residence multiple times in 2021, including at late-night hours.
Mr. Trump’s attorney Steven Sadow hammered Mr. Bradley over his text messages to Ms. Merchant and his apparent change of heart about when Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis became a romantic pair.
“Why in the heck would you speculate in this text message?” said Mr. Sadow, arguing that Mr. Bradley was unlikely to float wild theories to Ms. Merchant, particularly because he knew she was working on the Trump-related case.
The defense argues that Ms. Willis had a financial incentive to hire Mr. Wade because they enjoyed trips, wine tastings and meals together. Mr. Wade testified that Ms. Willis reimbursed him in cash for anything he paid for.
Mr. Bradley took the stand during a two-day evidentiary hearing on Ms. Willis’ potential disqualification earlier this month. Attorneys got little out of him because he cited attorney-client privilege.
Judge Scott McAfee met in his chambers with Mr. Bradley and ordered him to take the stand again. The judge concluded that Mr. Bradley’s interpretation of the privilege had been too broad.
Mr. Bradley, squinting skeptically during questioning, frustrated Ms. Merchant by saying his texts to her about the relationship amounted to speculation and not firm evidence of a relationship.
“I’ve said that time and time again,” Mr. Bradley said. “I don’t know when the relationship started.”
Ms. Willis began investigating Mr. Trump three years ago, based on his efforts to pressure Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to dig up enough votes to overturn Mr. Biden’s 2020 electoral victory, which Mr. Trump says was rigged. A grand jury last year indicted Mr. Trump and his associates.
The former president faces 13 counts, including a violation of Georgia racketeering laws, solicitation of a violation of an oath by a public officer, and several counts related to alleged conspiracies to commit forgery, make false statements and writings, or make false filings.
His co-defendants face an assortment of charges — 41 counts in all — that at times overlap with those against Mr. Trump.
Judge McAfee will decide whether to disqualify Ms. Willis from the case. He will hear closing arguments on the Willis disqualification issue on Friday.
Her entire office also would be disqualified, and the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia would have to appoint a new prosecutor. A prosecutor could be another sitting district attorney or the equivalent of a special prosecutor from government or private practice.
A disqualification could result in a big delay in Mr. Trump’s trial in Georgia while he campaigns for president. As it stands, no trial date is set.
Mr. Trump faces trial in New York on March 25 on charges he falsified business records to cover up hush-money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and two others.
He faces a federal trial in Washington on charges accusing him of conspiring against the U.S. and its voters with his post-2020 election actions and a separate federal trial in Florida on an indictment accusing him of storing government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and obstructing archivists’ efforts to retrieve them.
Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 90-plus counts against him and says Democrats cooked up the charges to thwart his presidential bid.