Prosecutor Nathan Wade made at least 35 visits to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s condo in 2021 before the she hired him to lead Georgia’s 2020 election interference prosecution against former President Trump, according to cellphone data filed in court on Friday.
Willis and Wade also called each other more than 2,000 times and exchanged nearly 12,000 text messages in the first 11 months of 2021, defense investigator Charles Mittelstadt said in an affidavit submitted to the court on Friday.
Willis at the time was living in a condo in the Hapeville neighborhood under a sublease agreement.
The D.A. owns a house in South Fulton but claimed she had to move out in early 2021 due to security concerns.
Willis faces possible disqualification from Georgia’s 2020 election interference case over allegations that she and Wade lied about when their relationship started.
During the misconduct hearing last week, Willis’s former friend Robin Yeartie, who sublet the Hapeville condo to Willis, testified that the romantic relationship between Willis and Wade began shortly after the two met at a municipal court conference in October 2019.
Willis and Wade have both alleged in court filings that their relationship began in 2022, after Willis hired him to investigate Trump. Wade testified in court last week that he had visited Willis at the condo no more than 10 times before he was hired in November 2021.
Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who formerly worked for Willis and donated to her campaign in 2020, is adjudicating whether their relationship constitutes a conflict of interest in the Georgia Trump case, and their alleged perjury are grounds for her dismissal.
On Friday, Trump’s lawyers presented data collected from Wade’s cellphone and cellphone tower transmissions tracking his movements.
Not only did he visit the the neighborhood at least 35 times, the cellphone pings also indicate that Wade arrived late at night at the condo and left early the next morning two times in 2021.
On one occasion, on Sept. 11, 2021, Wade’s phone left the Doraville area and arrived in the vicinity of Willis’ Hapeville address at 10:45 p.m. The phone remained there until 3:28 a.m. and could later be seen arriving in East Cobb at 4:05 a.m., shortly before Wade sent a text to Willis, the affidavit said.
Similarly, Wade’s phone left the East Cobb area the night of Nov. 29, 2021, after receiving an 11:32 p.m. call from Willis, the affidavit said. It arrived in Hapeville at 12:43 a.m. and remained there until 4:55 a.m., the affidavit added.
Both Wade and Willis insisted in court last week that they did not spend the night together at the Hapeville condo.
When questioned by Trump attorney Steve Sadow on February 15 , Willis admitted Wade visited her at the Hapeville condo before she hired him in November 2021, but far fewer times than the cellphone data indicated.
On one occasion, Willis recalled a time when he picked up food from the Lickety Split Southern Kitchen & Bar and brought it to the condo.
As to how many times Wade paid her a visit in 2021, Willis testified, “I don’t think often, but I don’t – I don’t want to speculate.”
When pressed for a number by Sadow, Willis said, “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 swore that no one, “except maybe one of her daughters on one occasion, ever spent the night with her at the Hapeville condo.”
Earlier in that hearing, Sadow asked Wade how frequently he visited Willis’ condo before November 2021. Wade testified that it was not more than 10 times.
Sadow suggested he had phone records that could demonstrate Wade was there more often than he had testified.
“So, if phone records were to reflect that you were making phone calls from the same location as the condo before Nov. 1 of 2021, and it was on multiple occasions, the phone records would be wrong?” Sadow asked Wade.
“If phone records reflected that? Yes, sir,” Wade responded.
“They’d be wrong?” Sadow asked.
“They’d be wrong,” Wade responded.
🚨Attorney for President Trump, Steve Sadow, specifically asked Nathan Wade under oath how many times he'd visited Fani Willis's residence in 2021:
SADOW: So if phone records were to reflect that you were making phone calls from the same location as [Willis'] condo before… pic.twitter.com/BSxmtUwYDn
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 23, 2024
Wade testified that he could have been in the area for any number of reasons, including a visit to the Porsche Experience Center, the airport, the Delta Air Lines headquarters or local restaurants. Wade also insisted that he never spent the night at Willis’ condo.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution explained why the timeline is important:
If Willis and Wade were a couple before she hired him it raises the prospect that she may have violated at least the spirit of anti-nepotism rules, though Fulton’s policy specifically focuses on family members. More importantly, both Willis and Wade have testified under oath that the relationship began in 2022. If defense attorneys can prove that they lied under oath it could constitute perjury.
Mittelstadt said in an affidavit submitted to the court on Friday that he had obtained the cellphone data from AT&T through a subpoena.
Mittelstadt said he used the online tool, CellHawk, to determine where Wade spent his time in 2021. “CellHawk is considered by law enforcement to be the gold standard in cellphone records analytics,” Mittelstadt said, noting it is used by law enforcement throughout the U.S. and Georgia.
The affidavit says Willis and Wade called each other more than 2,000 times during the first 11 months of 2021 and exchanged just less than 12,000 text messages.
Mittelstadt also said he focused on when Wade’s cellphone connected to a tower near Willis’ Hapeville address for extended periods to make sure he was stationary and not in transit. He said he did the same thing to determine when Wade was at his home in East Cobb County.
Mittelstadt said in the filing that he “is available to testify at the court’s convenience.”
Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for Willis, said Friday: “We are required to respond to the filing via the court and we are preparing a response now.”
Legal experts are now saying there’s zero chance Willis and Wade can remain on the case.
“More evidence that these two prosecutors lied, under oath,” wrote trained lawyer and independent journalist Megyn Kelly on X. “They’re looking at perjury charges and worse. Discipline from the Bar. And there is zero chance they can stay on this case. It’s DONE.”
Judge McAfeehas set a hearing for March 1, 2024 to hear the additional evidence.