Fani Willis’ longtime friend says the DA began dating Nathan Wade years before she hired him — contradicting his affidavit to the court

A longtime friend of the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney prosecuting former President Donald Trump and his allies over 2020 election interference testified on Thursday that the DA and the special prosecutor she assigned to the case began dating in 2019 —while he was married.

The testimony contradicts what the lead lawyer, Nathan Wade, said in an affidavit earlier this month.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Wade started their romantic relationship in the fall of 2019 shortly after the pair met at a conference, Willis’ one-time “good” friend Robin Yeartie testified during an evidentiary hearing in Fulton County Superior Court.

Yeartie, who said she previously worked in the DA’s office and once let Willis rent her condo, told the court that she had “no doubt” in her mind that from 2019 to the last time she spoke with Willis in March of 2022 that Willis and Wade were in a romantic relationship.

Additionally, Yeartie testified that she saw Willis and Wade kissing before Willis appointed Wade to lead the probe into Trump and 18 of his allies’ efforts to overturn Trump’s Georgia loss during the 2020 presidential election.

The hearing comes after lawyers for one of the co-defendants in the racketeering case filed a motion alleging that Willis had an “improper” romantic relationship with Wade. The motion called for Willis to be disqualified and the charges dropped.

Earlier this month, Willis admitted in a court filing to having a relationship with Wade, with her attorney arguing that the efforts to disqualify her have “no merit” and “should be summarily denied without an evidentiary hearing.”

An affidavit from Wade was included in the court filing in which he also admitted to having a relationship with Willis, but he claimed that there was not a “personal relationship” between them before he was appointed as a special prosecutor in the election case.

“While professional associates and friends since 2019, there was no personal relationship between District Attorney Willis and me prior to or at the time of my appointment as special prosecutor in 2021,” Wade said, according to the filing.

Yeartie, who became friends with Willis in college in either 1991 or 1990, said she resigned from her post at Willis’ office in March 2022, and they have not spoken since.