Trump prosecutor Fani Willis scolds ‘highly offensive’ attorney in fiery testimony: ‘That’s lies’

The Georgia prosecutor leading a sprawling election interference case against Donald Trump has testified in court about allegations of misconduct levelled against her by the former president and his co-defendants – questions that could potentially disqualify them from the case.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began her testimony in an Atlanta courtroom on Thursday after defence attorneysquestioned lead prosecutor Nathan Wade about the timeline of their relationship and the expenses they shared.

The attorneys had already admitted to their relationship but firmly rejected the “meritless” and “salacious” allegations as “bad-faith” attempts to see her kicked off a case that Mr Trump has baselessly labelled a conspiracy against him, according to court filings.

Thursday’s hearing is scrutinising allegations that the former couple financially benefited from Ms Willis hiring Mr Wade to prosecute the former president’s case, which charges Mr Trump and more than a dozen co-defendants as part of a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the state’s election results in 2020.

“I’ve been very anxious to have this conversation with you today,” Ms Willis told defence attorney Ashleigh Merchant. “It’s ridiculous that you lied on Monday and yet here we are.… I’m actually surprised that the hearing continued. But since it did, here I am.”

Robin Yeartie, a friend of Ms Willis when they were in college in the early 1990s, previously testified that Ms Willis and Mr Wade were in a romantic relationship beginning in 2019. During her testimony, Ms Willis vigorously denied those claims and called an allegation that she slept with Mr Wade after meeting him “extremely offensive”.

“That’s a lie,” she told Ms Merchant, a criminal defence