Fani Willis and Nathan Wade Compared to 'Love-struck Teenagers' in Disqualification Trial's Closing Arguments
Defense attorneys claimed Willis and Wade's romantic relationship 'predated' 2022.
March 1 2024, Published 7:00 p.m. ET
During the final day of the disqualification trial of Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis, defense attorney Richard Rice claimed she and special counsel Nathan Wade acted like "love-struck teenagers," RadarOnline.com has learned.
Rice, the attorney for Donald Trump's co-defendant Robert Cheeley, is seeking to have Willis removed from the case over an alleged conflict of interest.
Defense attorneys claimed Willis and Wade's romantic relationship 'predated' 2022.
The case centers on the relationship's timeline and whether or not Willis hired Wade before or after their relationship began. The defense team argued the relationship started in 2019 and Willis testified her romantic relationship with Wade began in 2022.
"Whether or not they had sex before January of 2022, I do not know," Rice said during his final statements.
"They admitted some time in early 2022, and I found it curious that they both, Wade and Willis, just went straight to the sex. So maybe that’s when they started having sex. I do not know. But the relationship predated that."
Trump co-defendant Robert Cheeley is seeking to have Willis disqualified from the case.
Rice continued, "And their combined and overly suggestive focus on that is a red herring to this court and to the defense, that that’s where they want you to focus on. They want you to ignore all the evidence that the relationship predated that."
The defense attorney alleged "the relationship started in 2019" and "continued" through 2020 and 2021.
"Looking at the cell phone communications just in the first 11 months of 2021, over 2,000 calls, almost 9,800 texts — I don’t even think love-struck teenagers communicate that much," Rice said.
Willis testified her relationship with Wade began in 2022.
Rice continued to argue that going out to dinner together or other dates could not explain the amount of communication between Wade and Willis.
"I’m pretty sure that there weren’t any restaurants that he drove 30 to 45 minutes to go eat at in the middle of the night right after he talked to Ms. Willis. Teenagers have a name for those kinds of calls and those kind of escapades — I won’t go into it. But the documentary evidence, the objective evidence undercuts everything that both Wade and Willis said."
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Judge Scott McAfee suggested professional disciplinary action may be recommended instead of disqualification.
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Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee suggested on Friday that if Willis and Wade lied during testimony about the start of the relationship, professional disciplinary action could be a potential remedy rather than disqualification, though he has yet to make a ruling in the case.
"There are several legal issues to sort through, several factual determinations that I have to make," Judge McAfee said, according to CNN. "Those are ones I can't make at this moment. And so I will be taking the time to make sure that I give this case full consideration."
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