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By Rachel Dobkin
Weekend Reporter
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New evidence in the case to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade from former President Donald Trump's Georgia election interference case is an "earthquake," longtime journalist and attorney Geraldo Rivera posted online Friday.
Willis hired Wade in 2021 to take the lead in the racketeering case against Trump and 18 co-defendants, who have been accused of conspiring to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 win in Georgia. Trump has plead not guilty to all charges.
In an attempt to disqualify Willis and her team and get his charges dropped, Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign staffer and one of the co-defendants in the case, brought forward allegations of a personal relationship between Willis and Wade in early January. Roman has pleaded not guilty in the case.
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Rivera, who is a friend-turned-critic of Trump, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "This powerful evidence in the motion to disqualify her office in the Georgia election interference case suggests their relationship started well before her sworn testimony stated it did."
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Willis and Wade confirmed that they had a relationship but that it started in the spring of 2022 after Willis hired Wade and that neither benefited financially. They said the relationship ended in the summer of 2023. Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the election interference case, held a series of hearings last week to determine if Willis and her office will be disqualified from the case.
On Friday, Trump's lawyers filed a supplemental brief to McAfee, asking him to review new information including an affidavit from a private investigator who analyzed Wade's cellphone location data. The investigator said the data showed that in 2021, Wade arrived at Willis' home late at night twice and left in the early morning hours, once in September and the other in November.
"This is exactly why you don't want your emotionally distraught client to take the witness stand under oath to defend their character," Rivera said. "Media experts who rushed to cheer her on, saying she did great on the witness stand, don't know what they're talking about.
"The focus of this case will continue to shift rapidly away from Trump and his co-defendants and hit squarely on the credibility and possible perjury of the prosecutor. This is more than a mere appearance of a conflict. This is an earthquake."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign, Willis' office and Rivera via email for comment.
During one of McAfee's hearings last week, Robin Bryant-Yeartie, a former DA office employee and longtime friend of Willis, said Willis and Wade's relationship started shortly after they met at a conference in October 2019.
She also said that she saw Willis and Wade "hugging, kissing, just affection" before he was hired.
Trump's new filing may delay McAfee's decision in the motion to disqualify Willis and her office.
Update 2/24/24: 11:45 a.m. This article has been updated with additional information.
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