ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate committee investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis held a hearing Wednesday morning with the attorney who originally filed a motion to disqualify her from the Georgia 2020 election RICO case.
The Senate Special Committee on Investigations hearing, with testimony from attorney Ashleigh Merchant, began at 9 a.m.
Merchant touched on several topics, including how the special purpose grand jury that first investigated the Georgia Trump case was formed as well as her evidence for the formation of the Willis-Nathan Wade relationship and his billing practices as special prosecutor for the case.
You can rewatch the full hearing in the YouTube player below, as well as find our live updates from during the hearing further down:
Live updates
12:32 p.m. | Testimony concludes and hearing is adjourned.
12:24 p.m. | Jones yields following final line of questioning regarding conflict of interest. Merchant clarifies once again that the finances should have been disclosed per Fulton County law.
12:20 p.m. | Merchant says Wade would have never been appointed as special prosecutor for the case if all of the facts had been known at the time.
12:13 p.m. | The topic shifts to the cost of trips that Willis and Wade took and connects it to the case's financial benefit and conflict of interest.
12:05 p.m. | Sen. Jones and Merchant have an exchange regarding Wade's alleged effort to extend Michael Roman's case to obtain more billable hours. Jones refutes the claims, stating that his client attempted to close the case earlier by having the co-defendant plead guilty, which would have stopped all billing, but Merchant declined.
11:51 a.m. | A Democratic state senator is now going to question Merchant. That member of the committee is state Sen. Harold Jones II of Augusta.
11:50 a.m. | They're now talking about how Wade accounted the money he billed Fulton County.
11:45 a.m. | Merchant now talking about the legal argument of an appearance of a conflict of interests or impropriety versus an actual conflict. Defense attorneys argued the appearance was enough to disqualify Willis, while Fulton DA's Office attorneys argued an appearance was not enough and that the defense attorneys had not come close to showing an actual conflict.
11:40 a.m. | Merchant now explaining the defense theory that the relationship constituted an improper financial benefit as grounds for disqualifying Willis. They've also argued Willis' public comments on the motion to disqualify were improper.
Merchant also touches on how Willis was disqualified from prosecuting current Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in the Trump case because she made an appearance at a fundraiser for his Democratic opponent in the 2022 lieutenant governor's race.
11:35 a.m. | They're now talking about the remarks Willis gave at an Atlanta church when she first responded to the allegations of a relationship with Wade.
11:15 a.m. | Merchant says she obtained records showing more than 12,000 voice and text interactions between Willis and Wade from January-November 2021. Merchant notes she doesn't have the legal ability to obtain the content of any messages, so she cannot confirm what they would have been texting or calling about.
11:10 a.m. | Merchant talking the condo in Hapeville where Willis and Wade allegedly visited together before he was hired. He denied in his testimony going to the condo with any frequency, saying he was there no more than 10 times before Willis hired him as a special prosecutor on Nov. 1, 2021.
Defense attorneys in the case filed cell phone records that allegedly showed Wade's cellphone connected to towers near the condo roughly three dozen times from Jan. 1, 2021, to Nov. 30, 2021.
"All it shows is contact... and perhaps communication," former DeKalb County district attorney Robert James told 11Alive previously. "It does not establish that there was, in fact, a romantic relationship prior to the time that they said it was a romantic relationship."
More on that here: Trump attorney: Cellphone data could show that Fani Willis, Nathan Wade lied about relationship timeline
11:00 a.m. | They're not discussing when Merchant believes the relationship between Willis and Wade began. The two testified it began after Wade was hired on for the Trump case. Bradley in texts told Merchant the relationship "absolutely" began before then, but he testified during the court hearings he didn't know when it began.
10:55 a.m. | They're now going into Terrence Bradley's role in this case. His testimony was a focus during the court hearings as he claimed attorney-client privilege -- he was a divorce lawyer for Wade and former law partner -- on several occasions. Judge McAfee later determined he incorrectly applied privilege and Bradley had to return to the stand.
10:45 a.m. | Merchant says the other two lead prosecutors had lower monthly caps than Wade. 11Alive has previously reported on the records showing Wade's pay relative to the other two prosecutors, which was the same hourly rate but disparate in terms of total hours billed.
10:40 a.m. | They note Wade's monthly billing cap was $35,000 a month. Merchant said it was lower at one point.
10:35 a.m. | They're going over the bills Wade submitted for his work as special prosecutor, including a date where 24 hours were billed.
10:35 a.m. | They're back after the break.
10:13 a.m. | They're taking a 5-10 minute break after Merchant and the committee reviewed a record of Willis visiting the White House in Feb. 2023.
10:10 a.m. | Merchant talks about the billing practices in the Trump case which she reviewed. She says that the other lead prosecutors for Fulton County wouldn't bill when they weren't in court, for instance, but that Wade was always at proceedings and therefore billing throughout court proceedings.
She says the DA's Office noted that Wade's role incorporated elements of being a "case manager" of sorts, which is why he was always present.
10:00 a.m. | Merchant just spoke to a Cobb County episode in which Wade was hired to investigate deaths at the Cobb County Jail. 11Alive had filed an open records request in 2020 to better understand the circumstances surrounding the in-custody deaths.
The Cobb County Sheriff’s Office declined to release the records, despite the fact that their attorney acknowledged two of the files “were previously released to members of the public,” according to court records from the time.
Their reasoning was that the cases had been "reopened" and were being investigated -- by the attorney they'd hired, Wade.
11Alive reporting at the time raised questions about the authenticity of the investigation and 11Alive attorneys filed suit to release the records, which was ultimately successful.
9:57 a.m. | Merchant spoke to the rate Wade is paid as special prosecutor, the practice of hiring special prosecutors in general and whether the original special purpose grand jury required county government approval.
9:42 a.m. | They're going over the process for how the special grand jury was formed and funded.
9:30 a.m. | An important addition to the note below -- a central part of the move to disqualify Willis is the defense attorneys' argument that Willis, in bringing the special grand jury, hired Nathan Wade for the Trump case and received a financial benefit from his payments through the case and her relationship with him as the two took vacations together.
Wade and Willis argued they always split costs associated with their relationship, such as for trips or meals, evenly. They also testified their relationship began after Wade was hired.
Whether it actually began before was the subject of inconsistent testimony from others who took the stand in the court hearings on the disqualification motion (remember, this hearing today is not a court hearing -- it's a political hearing before a Georgia Senate committee).
9:26 a.m. | They're going a bit into the special grand jury process in Georgia. DA Willis called a special grand jury at the start of the Trump case -- a special grand jury cannot bring an indictment, but it hears evidence over a period of time and ultimately makes a recommendation in a report. The special grand jury in the Trump case spent much of 2022 hearing testimony in advance of Willis eventually bringing the case to a regular grand jury, which indicted Trump and the other codefendants in the case.
9:19 a.m. | Merchant explains that she can discuss evidence with the committee that she produced for the court on her own, and that there is evidence produced through the legal discovery process that, for these purposes, is protected under court order.
9:13 a.m. | Merchant has gone over some of her personal history as an attorney in metro Atlanta and explained her representation of defendant Michael Roman in the 2020 election RICO case. You can read a little more on Roman in the section below.
9:08 a.m. | Merchant has been sworn in.
9:05 a.m. | The hearing is now underway.
8:50 a.m. | Good morning! The hearing will begin in about 10 minutes. 11Alive's stream of the proceedings is live in the video player above this story and in the YouTube player above.
More on the Georgia Senate investigation into Fani Willis
The Senate committee lacks the power to sanction Willis, but the senators can subpoena evidence and witnesses such as Merchant. They also have the rare power to require that testimony be given under oath.
The committee could produce a report at the end of its investigation that features proposed changes to state law or budgeting to the DA's office.
Merchant is the attorney for Michael Roman, one of the 19 codefendants originally indicted in the case along with former President Donald Trump. She brought the motion in January to disqualify Willis, alleging the relationship between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade that was ultimately acknowledged by both in a series of extraordinary hearings on the motion.
Judge Scott McAfee is currently weighing whether the evidence and arguments in those hearings will merit disqualifying Willis and Wade. He said last week he would have an order on the motion within two weeks.
Defense attorneys, including for Donald Trump, who adopted the motion argued there was "legitimate concerns" about the truthfulness of Willis and Wade's testimony -- particularly regarding the timing of their relationship -- which would be enough to raise an appearance of impropriety and merit disqualification. They also argue Willis benefited financially from hiring Wade and the "money that was paid to Mr. Wade through the contract that Ms. Willis got him" as they took trips together.
Attorneys for Willis at the hearing argued the defense "failed to provide any actual conflict in the relationship between her (Willis) and Mr. Wade" and that there was "no evidence of a financial benefit that she gained as it relates to the prosecution of this case and ultimate outcome of this case."
"They were not able to provide any evidence as to the contrary of Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade's assertions of when their relationship began, there's absolutely no evidence that contradicts the relationship began around March of 2022," Fulton County prosecutor Adam Abbate said.
Roman is a Philadelphia GOP operative who was director of Election Day operations for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign. He faces seven charges, including multiple conspiracy charges. The charges stem from several events, including his alleged role in the Trump "alternate" elector scheme. Roman had been one of the lesser-profile codefendants until Merchant brought the motion to disqualify Willis.
Prior to this case, Merchant has been a well-known metro Atlanta attorney who runs her own firm, The Merchant Law Firm. The Trump proceedings are not her first high-profile case in Georgia by any stretch -- she was retained by Ryan Duke in the prominent Tara Grinstead case down in Irwin County.
These are the Senators who are serving on the committee investigating Willis:
- Chairman Bill Cowsert (R-Athens)
- Vice Chairman Greg Dolezal, (R-Cumming)
- Jason Esteves, (D-Atlanta)
- John F. Kennedy, (R-Macon)
- Blake Tillery, (R-Vidalia)
- Harold Jones II, (D-Augusta)
- Bo Hatchett, (R-Cornelia)
- Steve Gooch, (R-Dahlonega)
- Gloria Butler (D-Stone Mountain)
News happens fast. Stream it faster with our re-designed 11Alive+ app.
Watch newscasts, breaking news streams and get the latest sports, weather and VERIFY content -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Available on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. Text "plus" to 404-885-7600 to download 11Alive+ and stream now.