During her unexpected and disastrous testimony in Thursday’s disqualification hearing, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis casually stated that she “kept” cash from a previous political campaign. Social media users jumped on the stunning admission, with many noting that converting campaign contributions to personal funds is a crime.
A central point of contention during Tuesday’s marathon testimony was the fact that Willis paid special prosecutor Nathan Wade — with whom she had a sexual relationship — in cash. During cross examination, Willis noted that she used CashApp for a number of other transactions, prompting questions surrounding the use of cash for Wade specifically.
Willis told Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney working on behalf of GOP political operative Mike Roman, that it is her standard practice to keep cash on hand.
“But I always have cash at the house. That has been, I don’t know, all my life. If you’re a woman and you go on a date with a man, you better have $200 in your pocket so if that man acts up, you can go where you want to go. So I keep cash in my house,” Willis said.
“So my question was, where did that cash originally come from? If it came out of the bank?” Merchant then asked.
“Cash is fungible. I’ve had cash for years in my house. So for me to tell you the source of where it comes from, when you go to Publix and you
Attorneys arguing on behalf of disqualification also grilled both Willis and Wade over the start of their relationship. Robin Yeartie, a former Fulton County District Attorney’s office employee and former close friend of Willis, testified that Willis and Wade began dating shortly after an October 2019 judicial conference. This occurred while Wade was working as a lawyer and municipal court judge in Cobb County and was before Willis hired Wade to work on the Trump case.
The allegations contradict Wade’s and Willis’ claims that the two began their relationship after he was hired as special counsel in 2022.
When being questioned on the timeline by Merchant, Fani Willis at one point erupted into a tirade, repeatedly shouting “it’s a lie!” as she held up a stack of documents. This meltdown led to a brief recess so the document could be entered into the court’s record.
