Willis prepares for second day as a witness in the Trump Georgia case

Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis will take the witness stand Friday morning for a second day of questioning as a hearing continues on whether her romantic relationship with the special counsel in the Georgia election interference case constitutes a conflict of interest results.

During the hearing, which resumes at 9 a.m., the defense will seek to disqualify Ms. Willis and Nathan Wade, the prosecutor it hired to lead the case against former President Donald J. Trump and his allies, accusing Ms. Willis of of financial benefits. from the relationship.

The argument has been made primarily by Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney for Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official and co-defendant in the case. Ms Willis and Mr Wade acknowledged they had a romantic relationship, but said it began after he was hired on the case and neither person benefited from it.

Friday is expected to be another full day of testimony. Ms Willis will face questions from lawyers from the prosecution's legal team and possibly the defense, and both sides said they planned to call several more witnesses.

On Thursday evening, Ms Merchant said two more witnesses could be called following Ms Willis' testimony on Friday. And Anna Cross, an attorney appearing on behalf of the district attorney's office, said the state expected to call three or four witnesses, which she expected would take four to five hours.

The judge, Scott McAfee, who is presiding over that hearing as well as the larger election interference case against Mr. Trump and his allies, told the court Thursday evening that he doubted arguments would be completed Friday and that he did not plan to issue another ruling to do, making it likely that the hearing will continue next week.

If the judge decides to remove Ms. Willis, her entire office and Mr. Wade from the case, as the defense has urged, it would ultimately delay and possibly derail the election interference case in which four of the 19 defendants, including some of Trump's 2020's most fervent defenders have already pleaded guilty.

On Thursday, the two lead plaintiffs, Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade, spent hours on the witness stand as lawyers questioned them about their personal lives and their finances related to their joint travels and tried to cast doubt on prosecutors' claims that Ms. Willis had Mr. Wade paid back in cash for her share of expensive trips while they were dating.

Ms Willis took to defense lawyers and angrily accused them of spreading lies about her and Mr Wade.

“I am not on trial, no matter how hard you try to bring me to justice,” she told Ms Merchant at one point. They are the defendants, she said, who were on trial for trying to steal an election.

In another key moment on Thursday, Robin Bryant-Yeartie, a former friend of Ms. Willis, took the stand and disputed the timeline cited by Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade for when they started dating, which they say began 2022 was. (Mr. Wade also testified Thursday that they ended their romantic relationship last summer.)

Defense lawyers have said the relationship between the two prosecutors began before Mr. Wade was hired in November 2021. On Thursday, Ms. Bryant-Yeartie testified that she had “no doubt” the two had begun a romantic relationship before Mr. Wade's arrival. hiring.

Prosecutors working for Ms. Willis' office said that Ms. Bryant-Yeartie had had an argument with Ms. Willis and that, although she had been a friend for years and had briefly worked for Ms. Willis in the district attorney's office, resigned in 2022 and the two had stopped speaking.

Richard Fausset And Danny Hakim reporting contributed.