The fun never sets in the Atlanta courtroom of Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. That is the red-hot scene of the adults-only reality TV hit called “The Real Prosecutors of Fulton County.”
As The Associated Press observed on Wednesday, a perilous political matter has “taken on a soap opera atmosphere, bogged down by testimony about sex, dating, cash stashes, and text messages … .”
This week’s guest star is Terrence Bradley, Esq., the former law partner of Nathan Wade. Wade, for his part, swims in controversy. He conducted an adulterous relationship with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, even while he was married (en route to divorce) and works for Willis as lead prosecutor in her criminal trial related to former President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to “overturn” the 2020 election.
Bradley testified about when Willis and Wade started their swingin’ affair. He previously had exchanged hundreds of emails with Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for Trump’s co-defendant Michael Roman, regarding the timing of Willis and Wade’s romance. In one message, Bradley said that it “absolutely” began before Willis employed Wade in November 2021.
Special prosecutor Nathan Wade listens to Fulton County Executive District Attorney Daysha Young during final arguments in District Attorney Fani Willis’ disqualification hearing at the Fulton County Courthouse on Friday in Atlanta. (Photo: Alex Slitz/AFP/Getty Images)
But then Bradley contracted courtroom-induced amnesia. Frustrated, Merchant told McAfee: “Judge, he doesn’t remember much of anything right now.”
Memories fade. But, alas for Willis and Wade, phone bills are forever.
Wade’s cellphone records are highly incriminating. They show some 2,000 calls and 10,000 text messages between Willis and Wade. They communicated nonstop, with the frenzied back and forth of teenagers in heat.
Even more revealing are the location data from Wade’s cellphone. They confirm that Wade repeatedly showed up at Willis’ home ’round midnight and then went home by the dawn’s early light.
Did they burn the midnight oil reviewing documents and plotting trial procedures or were other things afoot by candlelight?
Wade and Willis testified that they “did not sleep together” before Willis hired Wade.
As the late, great Henry Kissinger would have put it, this most likely “has the added advantage of being true.” These visits in the wee small hours involved little, if any, actual sleep.
The opposing counsel should have asked the obvious question as directly as this: “Did you two have sex before Willis employed Wade?”
Of course, Willis paid Wade an enormous sum to argue a complex Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) case against a former president of the United States. This is the legal equivalent of starring in the flying trapeze. Wade seems better equipped to drive a clown car. Nonetheless, he got paid like P.T. Barnum.
Wade has earned some $654,000 from Willis’ case against Trump since January 2022. Fishier still, Willis paid Wade $250 per hour in November and December 2021 while disbursing “only” $150 per hour to John Floyd, reputedly Georgia’s go-to RICO expert, according to a contract secured by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Wade then spent part of this bonanza to take Willis on cruises; a fabulous weekend in Napa Valley, California; and other hot times in posh spots.
Willis seems to have recruited Wade in exchange for sexual favors and financial benefits, namely earthshaking assignations and splashy vacations.
This was a giant sexual kickback scheme—call it play to pay—all financed with Fulton County, Georgia, taxpayers’ dollars.
If Willis hired her boyfriend, then this is corruption.
If Willis hired Wade and then started copulating with him, then this sounds like sexual harassment: A boss knocking boots with an employee over whom she wields professional and economic power.
This is either a kickback scam or #MeToo in reverse.
Which is it, Fani?
Willis and Wade should be booted from this case. Indeed, this entire stinking wreck should be dismissed and Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell, Harrison Floyd, Michael Roman, and the other defendants who are being persecuted—or who already have pleaded guilty—should have their charges dropped, their legal fees reimbursed, and profound apologies rendered by the people of Fulton County.
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