ATLANTA — A judge has denied a motion from Nathan Wade to block additional testimony from his former attorney Terrance Bradley. Bradley is now set to meet with the judge on Monday.
This comes after Wade, a special prosecutor in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump and 14 others, attempted to prevent his former attorney from providing additional evidence to the judge who will decide if Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be removed from the Trump case.
The information from Terrence Bradley, a former law partner of Wade's who previously represented him in his Cobb County divorce, could prove arguments made by co-defendants in the case that Wade and Willis entered into a romantic relationship earlier than they admitted in court filings.
However, Wade alleges that the private review of information "may unlawfully compel Bradley to disclose communications" that should be protected by attorney client-privilege and not disclosed to anyone else.
Wade filed the request Tuesday, days after attorneys for Trump and eight other co-defendants argued that Willis should be disqualified for alleged misconduct.
They allege Willis and Wade were engaged in a romantic relationship that provided improper benefits for the pair. Willis appointed Wade as special prosecutor, and Wade used a portion of the money he made from the case to pay for trips that he and Willis took. The defendants also allege the relationship began in 2019 — years before Wade's appointment.
Wade, Willis, and the Fulton County District Attorney's Office deny those allegations, maintaining the relationship began in early 2022. He was appointed special prosecutor on Nov. 1, 2021.
Bradley could be forced to answer questions he tried to avoid during last week's hearing after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee expressed doubts that he was properly using attorney client-privilege.
Bradley confirmed communications he had with Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney representing Trump co-defendant Mike Roman who first leveled the allegations of an improper romance, about her court filings. However, he used the privilege to bat away most questions about the romance and its timeline during Friday's hearing.
Things began to change when special prosecutor Anna Cross cross-examined Bradley about why he left the law firm he once shared with Wade.
Bradley previously testified he left the firm partially due to a disagreement with Wade that was related to the divorce case. Bradley cited attorney-client privilege to prevent going into further detail.
However, Bradley later testified under questioning from Cross that he left after being accused of sexual assault.
The change in testimony left McAfee wondering if Bradley was improperly claiming attorney-client privilege. McAfee order a private review of Bradley's privilege claims, and evidence could be reopened as a result of its findings.
"I think now we've opened up a whole area," McAfee said. "That doesn't sound like privilege to me."
In his filing Thursday, Wade accused defendants of prying into his private life in an "unprecedent and public manner."
Wade argues that Bradley has no relevant personal knowledge about the beginning of the relationship, and that Bradley sought advice of both counsel and the State Bar of Georgia on attorney-client privilege prior to his testimony.
Wade alleges that "no credible evidence exists in the record to support" the defendant's "tenuous" claims.
"The Court should not conduct the examination under any circumstance," Wade said. "The attorney-client privileged communications at issue between Wade and his own former attorney Bradley, made during the course of and in relation to Bradley's representation of Wade, must be protected from disclosure."
The private court proceedings could be pivotal in efforts to remove Willis from the case. Further hearings regarding other allegations against Willis will be scheduled for a later date. It's unclear when the next hearing will take place.
The Fulton County Board of Ethics will also hear two complaints filed against Willis during a specially scheduled March 7 meeting.
Fulton County resident Steve Kramer and Greg Mantell, founder of the Substack blog Investigative News Service, filed the complaints.
Kramer cited the Wade-Willis relationship and alleged that Wade's "in-kind" gifts to Willis, like the trip purchases, should have been disclosed under the county ethics code. Mantell alleges Fulton County did not turn over financial records related to Wade's financial invoices.