© ReutersFulton County DA Fani Willis and Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade
Fani Willis and her special prosecutor former lover Nathan Wade appeared to be having late night trysts at her apartment well before they both claim their 'romantic relationship' started, according to bombshell phone records filed with the court today.
The cellphone data reveals Wade visited the exact area where the Fulton County district attorney was renting a condo at least 35 times before their admitted affair - at least one of them before she appointed him to prosecute former president Donald Trump in her election fraud case in Georgia.
Willis admitted in a special hearing last week that her ex-lover visited her at the apartment in Atlanta's Hapeville neighborhood, but appeared to shrug off the question and did not specify when or how many times.
But attorneys seeking to have her disqualified from the case against Trump subsequently hired a criminal defense investigator to analyze phone records, which further call into question the relationship between the couple and the timing of Wade's appointment.
The AT&T data was gleaned from the number of times Wade's phone pinged off specific cellphone towers in Willis's immediate area - and revealed a 'sheer volume of data' according to investigator Charles Mittelstadt in his report filed to Fulton County Superior Court.
He said there was so much data that he focused on two specific dates, which revealed Wade was in the direct vicinity of Willis's apartment on one occasion in September, 2021 before he was appointed until 3.28am. He went home and then texted her at 4.20am.
Two months later, in November, 2021 he called Willis at 11.32pm and arrived in the specific area of the apartment at 12.43am, staying there until 4.55am.
The apartment was rented from Willis's former close friend Robin Bryan-Yeartie who said in court last week she believed the DA's relationship with Wade began in 2019 and she'd seen them hugging and kissing.
Mittelstadt says in his report: 'Because of the limitations in analyzing the sheer volume of data and preparing the report, I was directed into a deeper analysis on two specific dates: September 11-12, 2021 (before I understand Mr Wade was hired) and November 29-30 (prior to what I understand was the in-court testimony that the romantic relationship began in 2022).
'Specifically, on September 11, 2021, Mr Wade's phone left the Doraville area and arrived within the geoface located on the Dogwood address at 10.45pm.
The phone remained there until September 12 at 3.28am at which time the phone traveled directly to towers located in East Cobb consistent with his routine pinging at his residence in the area. The phone arrived in East Cobb at approximately 4.05am, and records demonstrate he sent a text at 4.20am to Ms Willis.
Additionally, on November 29, 2021, Mr Wade's phone was pinging on the East Cobb towers near his residence and, following a call from Ms Willis at 11.32pm, while the call continued, his phone left the East Cobb area just after midnight and arrived within the geofence located on the Dogwood address at 12.43am on November 30, 2021. The phone remained there until 4.55am.'
Wade and Willis made more than 2,000 voice calls to each other and exchanged just under 12,000 interactions over an 11-month period in 2021, said Mittelstadt's report.
The expert said he narrowed down a 'very conservative' area directly near the apartment and concentrated on two cell towers 'in close proximity' to the address.
Both Wade and Willis, 53, testified at the special hearing centered on their relationship that they did not spend the night together at the condo in a gated community.
Wade, 51, who is currently going through a messy divorce from wife Jocelyn, testified in court he had not visited the condo more than 10 times before November, 2021.
Trump's Lead attorney Steven Sadow, who filed the document into court Friday, asked him in response: 'So, if phone records were to reflect that you were making calls form the same location as the condo before November 1 of 2021, and it was on multiple occasions, the phone records would be wrong?'
Wade replied: 'If phone record reflected that? Yes sir.'
Sadow: 'They'd be wrong?'
Wade: 'They'd be wrong.'
The special prosecutor said he could have been in the area for any number of reasons, including going to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, local restaurants or the Porsche Experience Center.
However Mittelstadt says analytics tool CellHawk that he used for the analysis is pinpoint accurate and excludes the possibility of routine travel along either the I-75 or I-85 close to nearby attractions or the airport.
'CellHawk is considered by law enforcement to be the gold standard in cellphone records analytics,' he wrote in his report.
During her fiery testimony to the court last week, Willis replied when asked how many times Wade visited her at the condo: 'I don't think often, but I don't - I don't want to speculate.'
After Sadow pressed her, she said: 'Let's say more than 10, but I'm not sure that's even accurate. He certainly has come and picked me up, gone and grabbed some food to eat.
'I don't remember him being in that condo a lot.'
She insisted no one apart from one of her daughters had possibly stayed the night.
Willis hired Wade in November 2021 to lead the case against Trump and other defendants accused of trying to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.
One of those accused, former National Republican Committee staff Michael Roman, has alleged Willis had an improper relationship with Wade - alleging she benefited financially through cruises and trips while he was being paid $650,000 for his work for the DA's office.
Willis insisted in the evidentiary hearing to determine if she can continue the prosecution that she always reimbursed Wade with cash. Judge Scott McAvee has yet to announce a decision.
The DA's former college friend Yeartie told the court there was 'no doubt' Willis and Wade were in a romantic relationship before the prosecutor was hired, and confirmed that she was 'certain' about it.
She said Willis told her about meeting Wade at a judicial conference in 2019. 'Ms Willis and Mr Wade began their romantic relationship soon after,' she said under questioning from Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney representing Roman.
Asked by another attorney if she ever saw Wade and Willis doing things 'that are common among people having a romantic relationship,' she replied: 'Hugging, kissing, just affection.'
Willis' made a surprise appearance on the stand Thursday after her former paramour Wade got grilled on the 'romantic' relationship. He testified that it began in 2022 shortly after she brought him on as a contract special prosecutor.
One disappointed viewer was Trump himself, who had briefly been expected to attend court Thursday but instead opted to travel to New York for an unrelated court appearance in the Stormy Daniels criminal case.
'Does anybody really believe that Fani Willis paid cash to her 'lover' whenever they took expensive 'trips' together. Really? Where did she get the CASH? Pretty weak questioning yesterday!!! I guess they don't want to insult her,' he posted on his Truth Social site.
'No way she can explain any of this corruption away!!!'
© Curtis Means for DailyMail.comPretty weak questioning yesterday!!! I guess they don't want to insult her,' former President Donald Trump posted in response to the decision not to call Willis, although his own lawyer did some of the questioning Thursday
It also prevents a roomful of defense lawyers from getting another crack at her on the witness stand, where they would try to poke holes into stories about her romance, office practices, credit card statements, and cash reimbursements.
The stakes are high for Willis, Wade - and Trump - with the prospect the prosecution could be taken away from Fulton County if there is a finding of an inappropriate relationship or a conflict of interest that could impact the prosecution. That in turn could stall Trump's trial amid his run to get back in the White House.
Thursday featured a string of fireworks inside Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee's courtroom.
At one point he called a five-minute break after Willis' angry attacks on lawyer Ashleigh Merchant, who exposed the affair in a legal filing that accused Willis and Wade of an inappropriate relationship and sought their disqualification.
She furiously denied a conflict or getting a financial benefit from luxury trips she took with Wade. Like Wade, she testified that she paid him back for her share in cash, and that they took turns with some entertainment expenses.
'I don't need anybody to foot my bills. The only man who's ever foot my bills completely is my daddy,' she said at one point.
'I'm not on trial,' she fumed at one point.
She only alluded to her anger while discussing Merchant's motion to remove her from the case and whether she had spoken to Wade about it.
'I don't know that it was a conversation. As you know, Mr. Wade is a Southern gentleman. Me, not so much,' she told Merchant, who represents alleged Trump coconspirator Michael Roman, while on the stand.
'It's a lie. It's a lie,' she fumed when contesting the 'offensive' suggestion she hooked up with Wade immediately after a 2019 judicial conference where she said she was introduced to him by a fellow judge.
She also rejected the idea that she was in a sexual relationship with him in 2020 or 2021, invoking his battle with cancer in 2020.
Reader Comments
In doing a little search on Willis, I picked an NPR mockingbird media one. It includes this quote, "Norm Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who served as special counsel during Trump's first impeachment, says Willis may be better positioned than most to prosecute the former president ."
Then Norm Eisen: "Eisen has served in a variety of government roles, most recently as t he special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee from 2019 to 2020 for the impeachment and trial of President Trump . Eisen was a “critical force in building the case for impeachment” (Washington Post)."
Regardless of your view of Trump, he has revealed the enormous corruption and conspiracy within all branches of the US government.