In one of the more extensive rounds of questioning in Thursday morning's hearing about alleged corruption in the office of Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis, attorney Ashleigh Merchant questioned Willis' special counsel and lover Nathan Wade about trips that he and Willis took together. This line of questioning was intended to determine whether Willis' relationship with Wade constituted a conflict of interest that would disqualify her from investigating and prosecuting Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants.
Merchant asked Wade to confirm specific trips in 2023, and he admitted to taking trips to Belize and California that year. Wade said that he paid for the trip with his Capital One credit card and that Willis paid him back for at least part of the expenses on those trips.
Wade stated that the trip to Belize was a birthday gift to him, but he paid for it on Willis' behalf until she paid him back. He claimed that "for safety reasons, she would limit her transactions," but he didn't elaborate on what that meant. Merchant didn't pursue that admission any further.
On their trip to Napa Valley in California, Wade said that Willis didn't pay him back for exactly half of the expenses, but she paid for their excursions there. The "expenses sort of balanced out" on that trip, Wade admitted.
Wade mentioned that, as consenting adults, they didn't parse out expenses from their trips and divide the costs exactly in half. "She's a proud woman," Wade said of Willis, drawing an inexplicable objection from the attorneys for the district attorney's office, which Judge Scott McAfee immediately overruled.
Related: Fani Willis Hearing Bombshell: Conflicting Testimonies About Her Relationship With Nathan Wade
Willis and Wade also took a trip to Miami, which Willis booked. Wade said that he didn't pay her back in cash but that he balanced out the expenses by paying for dinner on that trip. That was the only trip discussed in the hearing that Willis paid for directly.
Merchant asked Wade about cruises that he booked. He took one of those trips with his sisters and their husbands as well as with Willis, while another trip included his mother and Willis. That cruise was a retirement trip for Wade's mother, and mother and son took some excursions on that vacation without Willis.
A line of questioning concerned a cabin rental in Tennessee, which Wade denied knowing anything about. He did state that he and Willis took "day trips" to Tennessee, where they would drive across the state line, have lunch away from local prying eyes, and drive back to Atlanta. However, he denied recalling similar trips to places in North Georgia.
(As an aside from a lifelong metro Atlantan, I have a hard time believing that they drove all the way to Tennessee, ate lunch, and drove back. I'm not saying Wade is lying, but I also can't help but think they had to have done more than merely eat lunch; otherwise, they would be wasted trips.)
Wade stated that no district attorney's office staff accompanied him and Willis on trips — not that anyone would've expected staff members to travel with them. The hearing is ongoing on Thursday afternoon, and if there are any more revelations, you can count on us to report them to you.
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