READ | Private investigator tracks calls, texts between Fani Willis, Nathan Wade – Atlanta News First
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – A private investigator hired by former President Donald Trump’s Georgia attorneys allege more than 2,000 phone calls and just under 12,000 text messages took place between Fulton County DA Fani Willis and her special prosecutor before he was hired.
On Friday, Trump attorneys Steve Sadow and Jennifer Little filed an affidavit in Fulton County Superior Court from Charles Mittelstadt, a 59-year-old criminal defense investigator hired to provide a voice call/text history for Nathan Wade.
Wade and Willis engaged in a now-acknowledged romantic relationship, but the couple claim their relationship began after Willis hired Wade to assist in her investigation and subsequent indictment of Trump and other Republicans.
Willis is the locally elected district attorney who issued dozens of indictments in August 2023 accusing Trump and his allies of trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
Using a cellular geo-mapping and analysis program called CellHawk, Mittlestadt’s report revealed “more than 2,000 voice calls and just under 12,000 text messages exchanged over the 11-month period in 2021,” Friday’s court filing said. “A heat map … highlights the interaction patterns which demonstrate a prevalence of calls made in the evening hours.”
The analysis appears to indicate Willis and Wade were communicating extensively before they say their romantic relationship began.
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The report also indicates Wade made at least 35 visits to the Hapeville, Georgia, condo in which Willis was living at the time, a property owned by Robin Yeartie, whose testimony last week rocked the two-day hearing. Yeartie testified that Willis’ and wade’s relationship began before Willis hired Wade.
Wade testified last week he’d visited Willis at the condo no more than 10 times before he was hired in November 2021. Middelstadt’s report alleges Wade twice arrived late at night at the condo and left early the next morning, again before the couple said their romantic relationship began.
Willis and Wade are facing allegations she misused taxpayer funds and crossed ethical boundaries during her romantic relationship with Wade. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee is expected to decide whether Willis and Wade should be disqualified from further participating in their indictment of Trump and 18 allies.
Allegations of an inappropriate relationship were brought forward in a motion by former Trump White House aide and co-defendant Michael Roman that claims the two “have been engaged in an improper, clandestine personal relationship during the pendency of this case, which has resulted in the special prosecutor, and, in turn, the district attorney, profiting significantly from this prosecution at the expense of the taxpayers.”
The motion calls to dismiss the indictment and disqualify Willis, Wade, and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting the case.
On Feb. 15, Willis and Wade both testified to the extent of their relationship and whether Wade benefited financially from their now-acknowledged romantic relationship. Willis has said she and Wade were not in a relationship when Willis hired him as a special prosecutor in the case against Trump in 2021. She has denied any wrongdoing.
Next month, the Fulton County board of ethics will take up two complaints filed against Willis.
According to the board’s published agenda for March 7, 2024, Gregory Mansell and Steven Kramer have filed the complaints. The board said it was scheduling a special meeting for that date at 10 a.m. in the Fulton County government center. The meeting is open to the public.
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