NonilexSuperior Court Judge Scott #McAfee determined #NathanWade’s fmr #law partner & divorce lawyer must tell the court what he knows about special prosecutor #NathanWade’s relationship w/ DA #FaniWillis – a decision that could produce more bombshell testimony as defense attorneys seek to disqualify the DA from prosecuting the #FultonCounty #Georgia #Trump #ElectionInterference #RICO case.
Judge #McAfee is once again doing a lot of work educating defense #attorney Merchant on #trial #witness examination procedures.
#Trump #legal #law #lawyer #criminal #conspiracy #Racketeering #RICO #obstruction #fraud #FaniWillis #Georgia #ElectionInterference
#TerrenceBradley is not a great #witness, he does not recall much of anything & as revealed at the end of the last time he was on the witness stand, his #credibility is far from stellar given he left the #law firm w/ #NathanWade after being accused by both a client & an employee of #SexualAssault.
#Trump #FaniWillis #legal #law #lawyer #criminal #conspiracy #Racketeering #RICO #obstruction #fraud #Georgia #ElectionInterference
Painful #witness examination of #TerrenceBradley by the #attorney for Michael Roman, #AshleighMerchant.
Both Bradley & Judge #McAfee are doing most of the work for her.
FYI #Trump's attorney will appear over Zoom.
#FaniWillis #NathanWade #legal #law #criminal #conspiracy #RICO #obstruction #Georgia #ElectionInterference
Sadow, #Trump’s attorney, is a much better lawyer than Merchant. He’s not getting objections & his examination of #TerrenceBradley is making Bradley appear to be less than truthful under oath.
#FaniWillis #NathanWade #legal #law #criminal #conspiracy #RICO #obstruction #Georgia #ElectionInterference
Texts Show Witness Readily Helped Build a Case to Disqualify #Trump Prosecutors
#TerrenceBradley was a reluctant witness in court, but text messages show he was eager to help an effort to disqualify #FaniWillis, the #FultonCounty, #Georgia DA.
#NathanWade #legal #law #criminal #conspiracy #RICO #obstruction #Georgia #ElectionInterference
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/us/trump-georgia-fani-willis-texts.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb
…when Bradley took the stand this week — & 2X earlier this month — he was a deeply reluctant witness.
His testimony did little to resolve a question at the heart of the defense’s attempt to show that #FaniWillis had an untenable conflict of interest: Whether the romantic relationship between Willis & #NathanWade, the lawyer she hired to help run the #Trump case, began before or after he joined her staff.
#legal #law #criminal #conspiracy #RICO #obstruction #Georgia #ElectionInterference
But hundreds of text msgs… show that Bradley, a fmr #law ptr & friend of #NathanWade, helped a defense atty to expose the relationship between the 2 prosecutors.
The texts reveal that Bradley, who served for a time as Wade’s divorce atty until the 2 men had a bitter falling-out, assisted the effort to reveal the romance & provide details about it for ≥4 months — countering the impression he left on the #witness stand that he had known next to nothing about the romance.
In the texts, which began in Sept of last year…, Bradley claimed some knowledge of when the relationship began. He even offered the defense lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, reassurance as she submitted her motion to disqualify to the court.
“I am nervous,” Merchant texted to Bradley on Jan 8, the day she filed the motion. “This is huge.”
“You are huge,” Bradley encouraged her. “You will be fine.”
(anybody want more info on Bradley & Merchant’s relationship?)
Okay this bit below is so outrageously ridiculous that it makes everything #TerrenceBradley says in the texts incredible (as in not credible) ➘
“When contacted Thurs morning, a lawyer for #NathanWade, Andrew Evans, said that ‘the texts contain several outright lies.’ Among them, Evans said, was an assertion from Bradley that either Evans or his wife, Stacey Evans, a Democratic state rep, had witnessed Wade & #FaniWillis having sex.”
More questionable stuff on #TerrenceBradley & #AshleighMerchant’s relationship:
When Merchant was writing the motion to disqualify the prosecutors, she assured Bradley that “I protected you completely. I kept you out of it.”
Merchant also told Bradley that she was becoming president of the #Georgia Assn of #Criminal Defense Lawyers & wanted him to become more involved in the group, incl’g by becoming a prgm director for an upcoming seminar.
#FaniWillis disqualification hearing 🧵
#JohnMerchant, who is atty #AshleighMerchant’s husband & also repping Michael Roman, is at the podium for argument.
He stated he would address the #conflict issue he says.
(will refer to as #JMerchant & #AMerchant now)
#Sadow will deal w/ #ForensicMisconduct & statements made to #media & #fraud on the court & Willis' book.
#JMerchant: #FaniWillis was DQed by JudgeMcBurney (she was supporting oppo of BurtJones, #Georgia LtGov & target of investigation) & tells Judge #McAfee to use the "#AppearanceOfConflict" standard.
JMerchant says "appearance of conflict" standard must be used, but admits that there is law in GA that says "actual conflict of interest".
McAfee: What is the "personal interest"?
JMerchant: It isn't defined by #law but here Willis has a personal financial interest from the scheme she set up.
#JMerchant: I agree w/the State that the conflict cannot be speculative, but we have a concrete #conflict here. #FaniWillis has a very personal interest.
JMerchant: Prosecutors should avoid an appearance of impropriety.
JMerchant: Re: how to determine a personal interest: "You know it when you see it."
JMerchant: E.G. of another case of a conflict is when a DA is a witness in a case, he is DQ'd & his entire office is DQ'd.
[neither are witnesses or parties, they are prosecuting attys]
#JMerchant: #FaniWillis awarded a contract to her boyfriend after dating him for 2 yrs [acc/to defense witness testimony] & then went on personal trips w/him. Even if Willis reimbursed Wade in cash, she has received a personal financial benefit of $9200 in this case.
#McAfee: Should there be an immateriality requirement here?
JMerchant: No. Even if it was $6 it is still disqualifying.
McAfee: So there is a continuum involved here?
JMerchant: the court must do a fact-based analysis.
#JMerchant: The court has to look at it globally & consider all of the witnesses & all of the facts & to evaluate credibility as a factfinder.
#McAfee: You cannot give a dollar amount & look no further?
JMerchant: There is no #law on this so I can’t answer that.
JMerchant: #FaniWillis isn't a disinterested person when it comes to this proceeding.
#JMerchant then defends his wife’s, #AMerchant, credentials: My wife was called a liar. The text msgs prove everything she put into that motion. She verified w/[Bradley] what she put into the filing.
#McAfee: How does the timing of the relationship impact the financial interest?
JMerchant: she appointed #NathanWade for him to get the money. #FaniWillis created the scheme & didn't tell anyone about it. They hid it & tried to create an excuse by saying it happened after the fact.
#JMerchant: There is no paper trail for the cash. A public ofcl is required to keep track of gifts.
#McAfee: Does the lack of #evidence fall on the State? Isn't that where burdens come in?
JMerchant: Yes they had the obligation to tell you where the money went. #FaniWillis & #NathanWade concocted the cash excuse together b/c you cannot rebut it.
#Trump atty, #Sadow is up addressing #ForensicMisconduct & #public / #media comments
Sadow: On 1/14/24, #FaniWillis went to a historic black church in ATL & made "the church speech." She did this to prejudice the defendants & their counsel.
[she didn’t comment on the case, only spoke to the accusations of conflict & relationship w/ #NathanWade]
#McAfee: this was a response to a motion that was filed?
Sadow: She could have responded in writing but she didn't. She made #extrajudicial comments
#Sadow: #FaniWillis alleged that race & religion were the reason for the motion to DQ & that is about as bad as that gets in Fulton County.
Sadow: Then the affidavit of Wade filed w/the State's opposition says the relationship did not begin until 2022. State's response also said no relationship as of Nov 1, 2021. Yeartie (witness & fmr friend of Willis) said it began in 2019.
#Sadow: All you have to find is a legitimate concern over their truthfulness about the timing of their relationship & that rises to the level of an appearance of impropriety.
Sadow: #TerrenceBradley texted w/ #AMerchant for months. He told her they "absolutely" dated before #NathanWade was appointed. Bradley, unprompted, texts to Merchant that "it started when she left the DA's Office & was a judge in south Fulton." Bradley definitively told AMerchant that it started before Wade was appointed.
#Sadow: Both #FaniWillis & #NathanWade lied. You know how this works w/ witnesses like #TerrenceBradley. He did everything he could possibly do to evade answering questions.
#Mcafee: So if we agree that Bradley didn't give truthful testimony on the stand, & other than his assertion "absolutely" to Merchant what else do you have here? You usually have something that locks in when that person is telling the lie versus when they're telling the truth.
#Mcafee: You're saying if a rep of the State, the lead DA, says something untruthful on the record, that has to be actively policed by the court? Generally we send it down the street to the #Bar.
#Sadow: You don't have to find that either #Wade or #FaniWillis lied. You just have to find that you have concerns about their truthfulness. Prosecutors are held to a higher standard. They're supposed to be disinterested. They gave you untruthful testimony based on Yeartie testimony & Bradley texts.
#Sadow: There are 2 instances that suggest that they spent the night together. That is corroborating evidence of what Bradley said.
#McAfee: Didn't #Wade testify that he was there 10 times? You've found 35 times now? Wade went to #FaniWillis' condo & he testified that he did. He wasn't keeping track of each time.
Sadow: But he spent the night & that suggests that they're not being honest w/the Court.
#McAfee: Is this a preponderance standard?
#Sadow: Yes
McAfee: Is "SUGGESTIVE" then the same? You're saying forensic misconduct is anything a DA says?
Sadow: Ethical violations that impact ability of defendant to get a fair trial & impact ct's ability to have faith that the prosecutors are acting in good faith.
Martin Parker@Nonilex so she was offering him an inducement for false testimony?
[eta: she may not have known that the testimony was false]
[eta: she may not have known that the testimony was false]
whether or not she knew, a #criminal #defense #attorney cannot offer a potential #witness anything certainly not a job w/ #remuneration, it’s #inducement.
Robert H#McAfee is honest and smart. Having the evidentiary hearing is by the book. A more experienced judge would have predicted the soap opera that would ensue and declined to waste weeks on this telenovela.
#ABA #CRIMINAL #JUSTICE STANDARDS
Standard 4-4.3 Relationship w/Witnesses
(e) …No other benefits should be provided to witnesses, …unless authorized by law, regulation, or well-accepted practice. All benefits provided to witnesses should be documented so that they may be disclosed if required by #law or court order. Defense counsel should not pay or provide a benefit to a witness in order to, or in an amt that is likely to, affect the substance or truthfulness of the witness’s testimony.
@Nonilex That's why witnesses are deposed on the record, rather than phone and text interviews.
Roy #EatTheRich Pardee 🇺🇸@Nonilex LOL
The Simpsons - I Saw One Of The Babies And The Baby Looked At Me (youtube.com)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE63y7ctAwA
The Simpsons - I Saw One Of The Babies And The Baby Looked At Me
James Gleick@Nonilex I would have put it a bit differently than the Times does. Texts show Bradley eagerly helping the Trump team gin up a fake case against Willis, and it collapsed in court, because when it came time to swear to his accusations under oath, he refused.
Kill cars for climate!@Nonilex I do not quite understand. This is supposed to be their star witness of the defense. They must have figured out that he lied before. Why do they want it to be out in front of the judge? Shouldn't they just have withdrawn the whole thing? What are they trying to prove here?
@andrej to establish that he is perjuring himself under oath, that he may have changed his account of the timeline due to influence & that perhaps his initial account was the more truthful one.
Either way it isn’t good. Anything at anytime from this witness is unreliable.
Either way it isn’t good. Anything at anytime from this witness is unreliable.