Former President Donald Trump on Friday submitted a request to introduce new evidence in a Georgia election interference case based on Fulton County Prosecutor Nathan Wade's cellphone records. 35 times in 11 months in 2021.
These records can be used to refute claims about the timeline of Willis and Wade's relationship.
The Fulton County DA's office pushed back on Trump's filing Friday night and urged a judge not to admit the phone records or analytics into evidence, saying they were improperly introduced and “proved nothing relevant.”
The posts come on the heels of an evidentiary hearing on efforts to disqualify Willis and Wade from the case, during which both Willis and Wade testified under oath last week that their romantic relationship did not begin until Wade was officially hired in November 2021. That relationship began in 2022.
Willis testified about Wade's hiring.
On Friday, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee scheduled a disqualification hearing for March 1.
Trump co-defendant Michael Roman and several co-defendants are seeking Willis' disqualification from the election case because she benefited financially from a “personal, romantic relationship” with Wade, who was hired for the case.
Willis and Wade acknowledged the relationship, but said in a court filing that it “did not constitute an inappropriate conflict of interest” and that the relationship “never directly or indirectly resulted in a financial gain for District Attorney Willis.” Willis testified that Wade reimbursed her in cash for the trips they took, which were often charged to her credit card.
Cell phone records show Wade exchanged thousands of calls and text messages with Willis in 2021, according to a Trump filing.
Trump's filing Friday was based on an affidavit from a criminal investigator who said he analyzed Wade's subpoenaed AT&T phone records from January to November 2021.
Investigator Charles Mittelstadt said he reviewed “all communications” between Wade and Willis' phone during this time, which he initially said revealed 2,000 calls and nearly 12,000 text messages during that 11-month period. That was before Wade was hired. In an updated affidavit Trump's team submitted to the court, the language in the analysis was changed to say “fewer than 12,000 communications were exchanged” — not text messages, as previously noted.
Mittelstadt said he also looked at the “geolocation activity” of Wade's phone, which he said revealed “at least” 35 instances of Wade's phone being connected “for extended periods of time” to towers near a home in Hapeville, Georgia, where Willis was. Said to have lived at that time.
“The data revealed that he was transient and not in transit,” the affidavit states.
In its 48-page filing Friday night, the DA's office said it did “nothing more” than show that Wade's phone was “located somewhere within a several-mile radius of a densely populated area.” They suggest he may have been in the area for other reasons, citing the area as “home to various residences, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other businesses”.
“The records do not prove in any way the content of communications between Special Counsel Wade and District Attorney Willis; they do not prove that Special Counsel Wade was at any particular location or address; they do not prove that Special Counsel Wade was. And District Attorney Willis was at the same location at any time listed,” the filing said.
It said Willis was elsewhere at “several relevant dates and times” mentioned by Trump, including at “three crime scenes” of the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings.
It includes several redacted emails from Willis in 2021 and calendar entries as apparent evidence to back up those claims.
Trump accused the filing from the DA's office of being “another attempt to get precious headlines in the media.”
During an evidentiary hearing last week, Wade specifically denied allegations that he frequented Willis' home in 2021.
When asked by Trump's attorney Steve Sato if he had visited Willis' condo “more than 10 times” prior to November 2021, he replied, “No, sir.”
“Would it be 10 times less?” Sato asked.
“Yes sir,” Wade replied.
“If the phone records show that you were making phone calls from the condo's location prior to November 1, 2021, and that was on multiple occasions, would the phone records be false?” Sato asked.
“They would be wrong,” Wade later replied.
On one occasion, in September 2021, before Wade was hired on the case, an investigator's affidavit states that Wade visited Willis' address in the middle of the night.
Specifically, records show that Wade's phone arrived at Willis' apartment area at 10:45 p.m. in September 2021 and remained there until 3:30 a.m., the investigator said in his affidavit. The investigator said records show that Wade's phone was returned to his apartment shortly after 4:05 a.m. and that Wade “sent a text message to Ms. Willis at 4:20 a.m.”
A filing from Trump's lawyer says Mittelstadt is “available to testify at the convenience of the court.”
Mittelstadt said in the affidavit that he used a tool called CellHawk to analyze the phone data, which he said is “considered the gold standard by law enforcement in analyzing cellphone records.”
Wade, meanwhile, is trying to block the judge in the case from questioning his former law partner and attorney, Terrence Bradley, behind closed doors, arguing that personal choice could “unlawfully compel” that attorney to release information protected by the attorney. Customer offer.
Bradley, who says there is evidence that Wade and Willis' relationship began before Wade was hired, largely declined to answer questions from the defense during last week's hearing, citing attorney-client privilege.
Judge Scott McAfee said he “wondered” whether Bradley was “interpreting the privilege correctly” and said he would have to question Bradley in private — and that he could reopen the evidentiary process if he reveals anything relevant.
In August, Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty to a major fraud charge in Georgia for allegedly trying to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Defendants Kenneth Chesbro, Sydney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Scott Hall took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
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