Last week, Robin Yeartie, a former “good friend” and employee of Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis, testified that there is “no doubt” that Willis and Nathan Wade were romantically involved from 2019 through at least 2022 when she and Willis last spoke. Willis, however, disputed this and claimed under oath that she and her lover Nathan Wade were “professional associates and friends since 2019.”
Willis insisted that they had not yet been romantically involved when she appointed him as special prosecutor in the case against Trump in November 2021. Wade similarly testified that their relationship started after his appointment.
However, cellphone data appears to contradict their testimonies. According to new court filings by Donald Trump’s attorneys, Wade made at least 35 visits to Willis’s neighborhood before Willis had hired Wade, and several of those visits appeared to be overnight visits.
Related: Fani Willis’ Testimony Was a Huge Gift for Trump
Trump’s legal team was able to track Wade’s movements from data collected from his cellphone and determined that the data contradicted Wade’s testimony last week when he claimed to have visited Willis at her condo no more than 10 times before being hired in November 2021. The data also suggests that Wade twice arrived late in the evening at the condo and left early the next morning in the months well before the pair insisted their romantic relationship began.
There were multiple “romantic” late nights at Willis’s condo in 2021.
Each is corroborated by Wade’s location and texts/calls between Wade and Willis.
The records disprove Willis’s testimony. They aren’t just disqualifying – they are a threat to Willis’s career. pic.twitter.com/2lZHzFuyyw
— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) February 23, 2024
“The timeline is important for two reasons,” explains a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “If Willis and Wade were a couple before she hired him it raises the prospect that she may have violated at least the spirit of anti-nepotism rules, though Fulton’s policy specifically focuses on family members. More importantly, both Willis and Wade have testified under oath that the relationship began in 2022. If defense attorneys can prove that they lied under oath it could constitute perjury.”
Friday’s court filing includes an affidavit from Charles Mittelstadt, a longtime investigator for defense attorneys. He said he obtained the cellphone data from AT&T through a subpoena.
Mittelstadt said he used the online tool, CellHawk, to determine where Wade spent his time in 2021. “CellHawk is considered by law enforcement to be the gold standard in cellphone records analytics,” Mittelstadt said, noting it is used by law enforcement throughout the U.S. and Georgia.
The affidavit says Willis and Wade called each other more than 2,000 times during the first 11 months of 2021 and exchanged just less than 12,000 text messages.
Mittelstadt also said he focused on when Wade’s cellphone connected to a tower near Willis’ Hapeville address for extended periods to make sure he was stationary and not in transit. He said he did the same thing to determine when Wade was at his home in East Cobb County.
It’s not looking good for Fani Willis. Not only is she likely to be booted from the case, but she also could face charges of perjury.