The Georgia attorney hired to help prosecute former President Donald Trump in Fulton County appeared to make dozens of visits to District Attorney Fani Willis’s Hapeville neighborhood before she hired him, according to cellphone records attached to a court filing Friday.
The two had testified under oath that their relationship did not begin until 2022, after Willis hired Nathan Wade.
Attorneys for Trump surfaced the cellphone date in a move that raises new questions about the relationship between special prosecutor Nathan Wade and Willis, which the former president and other defendants argue has tainted the case against them and should result in the disqualification of the district attorney.
The filing sent to the Washington Examiner by Trump attorney Steve Sadow cited data collected from Wade’s cellphone and cellphone tower transmissions to track his movements and location, which appear to contradict Wade’s testimony last week, when he said he visited Willis at her condo no more than 10 times before he was hired in November 2021.
The data showed Wade appeared to make as many as three dozen visits to Willis’s neighborhood in 2021.
Friday’s filing also included an affidavit from Charles Mittelstadt, an investigator for defense attorneys. The affidavit said Willis and Wade called each other more than 2,000 times during the first 11 months of 2021 and exchanged nearly 12,000 text messages.
Mittelstadt said he used an online tool known as CellHawk to find out where Wade spent his time in 2021.
“CellHawk is considered by law enforcement to be the gold standard in cellphone records analytics,” Mittelstadt said, adding it is used by law enforcement throughout the U.S. and Georgia.
Sadow wrote in the filing that Mittelstadt “is available to testify at the court’s convenience.”
When Willis took the stand last week, she was pressed by Sadow about how many times Wade paid a visit to her in 2021.
“Let’s say more than 10, but I’m not sure that 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,” Willis responded, also saying that almost nobody ever stayed with her in the Hapeville condo where she lived at the time.
Earlier in the hearing, Wade testified that he visited Willis’s condo no more than 10 times.
Also at the hearing, Willis and Wade’s testimony was contradicted by Robin Yeartie, a witness who was a former colleague and friend to Willis who allowed her to sublet the Hapeville condo. Yeartie testified that she had “no doubt” the prosecutors began their romantic partnership shortly after the pair met in 2019, saying she had seen them engaging in public displays of affection.
The Friday filing comes as Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is preparing to speak to Wade’s former law partner, Terrence Bradley, during a closed hearing on Monday.
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On Thursday, Wade sought to block Bradley’s testimony to the judge, saying he believed his discussion could violate attorney-client privilege.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office for comment.
