Thursday, December 5, 2024

Trump files phone records contradict Fulton County Prosecutor Fannie Willis' timeline

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Fannie Willis admits to an affair with Nathan Wade, the attorney she hired to prosecute Trump.

Donald Trump's legal team says the two prosecutors investigating him were not telling the truth about their relationship, according to cellphone data.

The former president is trying to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis from the case.

Her attorneys say phone records indicate Ms. Willis misrepresented the timeline of her affair with another attorney.

The district attorney's office has denied the allegations and said the data was misinterpreted.

Mr Trump and co-defendants are accused of trying to interfere in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

But they argue that Ms. Willis' relationship with the lawyer she hired in the case, Nathan Wade, was a financial conflict of interest.

At the hearing earlier this month, both Ms Willis and Mr Wade testified that their affair did not begin until early 2022, after Mr Wade was appointed.

But in a legal filing Friday, Charles Mittelstadt, an investigator for Mr. Trump's legal team, said phone records showed that Mr. Wade, who was married at the time, visited Ms. Willis' home at least 35 times “for extended periods of time.” 2021.

The affidavit states, citing the geolocation function for Mr Wade's device, “the data reveals he is stationary and not in transit”.

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WATCH: Fanny Willis' surprising testimony in 75 seconds

Mr Mittelstadt also said the pair exchanged more than 2,000 calls and almost 12,000 phone communications, such as voice calls and text messages, over 11 months in 2021.

The investigator said the data showed that Mr. Wade was in the vicinity of Ms. Willis' apartment from night to dawn on two occasions.

On one occasion, Mr Mittelstadt says Mr Wade's device was pinged around Mr Willis' condominium at 22:45 one night in September 2021 and remained there until 03:30 in the morning.

Records show the investigator sent a text message to Ms Willis at 04:20 that morning after Mr Wade's phone returned to his own home.

In court documents filed late on Friday, Ms Wills' office said the phone data “does not prove anything relevant” and should not be entered into court as evidence.

“Special Prosecutor Wade's phone did nothing more than locate it somewhere within a densely populated several-mile radius of various residences, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other businesses,” the filing said.

The filing also said none of the records proved that Ms Willis and Mr Wade had a romantic relationship in 2021 or that they were “ever present at the same location at any time listed”.

On Friday, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee said a disqualification hearing will be held on March 1.

Mr Trump's legal team alleges Ms Willis benefited financially from the affair and should be removed from the case.

Both prosecutors have denied that their relationship created a conflict of interest or that their trips and meals amounted to any improper financial benefit.

If Ms. Willis is disqualified from the case, it does not mean the end of criminal charges against Mr. Trump.

But that would delay action until after the November presidential election.

In the Georgia election case, Mr Trump was accused of fraudulently conspiring to wipe out a deficit of less than 12,000 votes in the state, which he lost to Joe Biden.

In total, the Republican White House front-runner faces 91 criminal charges in four separate cases.

Separately on Friday, a judge in New York ordered the former president to pay $454m (£358m) within a month after he was found guilty of fraud in a civil case by misrepresenting his business assets.

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