OAN’s Taylor Tinsley
2:25 PM – Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Ashley Merchant, the attorney who originally filed the motion to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis, testified before the Georgia Senate Select Committee on Investigations.
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Mr. Merchant testified before committee members on Wednesday.
The lawyer was the first to receive a subpoena from the committee investigating Willis, who is accused of having a romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor she hired in President Trump’s election interference case in Georgia. was.
Merchant said Willis’ office’s decision to hire a special counsel in the Trump case was unusual to begin with.
He noted that in September 2021, Willis asked the Fulton County Commission for funding to hire 55 additional attorneys amid “increasing crime and a backlog of homicide cases.”
The chairman, Sen. Bill Cowsert (R-Ga.), asked Merchant whether he would be required to pay for special counsel in state election interference cases. She said that’s not the case, adding that once the county approves the budget, Willis basically has the power to do whatever he wants with it.
“We wanted to be able to track it, so we released records asking who was hired based on this and the dates of employment, and we were denied,” Merchant said.
“So who made that denial, the prosecutor’s office or the county?” Cowsert asked.
“The DA’s office,” Merchant answered. “She didn’t have enough money for those 55 people, so she went and begged for more money. So once she won the award, she could now do whatever she wanted with that money. That is my position.”
Asked for his thoughts on the situation, Merchant said it was strange that Willis had no budget authority or oversight over how he was spending the public’s money.
“I know it’s an elected official, but it’s still public money,” Merchant said.
Defense attorneys also pointed out that two other special prosecutors hired on the RICO case were paid much less than special prosecutor Nathan Wade. She added that he had never even been charged with a felony before.
Merchant represents Michael Roman, a Philadelphia Republican operative and one of the 19 defendants in the Georgia case. He raised suspicions that Willis was in a romantic relationship with Wade and that they used money paid by her firm to go on lavish vacations.
“A lot of people in the community were a little surprised to see Nathan handling this case…I was surprised because he is well versed in the practice of law, but this is not what you would imagine. It wasn’t his actions,” Merchant said.
“For two of the cruises they went on, he used a travel agent. There was a cruise to the Bahamas, a trip to Aruba, and another cruise to the Bahamas. His credit card had Belize. Every trip to was recorded,” Merchant added.
“And did they show that he was buying tickets for both himself and Mr. Willis?” Chairman Cowsert asked.
“Oh, yes,” Merchant replied.
Merchant also mentioned Terrence Bradley, who represented Wade in his recent divorce. She said Mr. Bradley told her that Mr. Wade and Mr. Willis were dating before Mr. Wade was hired to work on Mr. Trump’s case.
“He (Bradley) met him at a hotel and he (Wade) said he was going to her house, and I remember him saying, ‘I need to find her best friend,'” she said. That was the resident of the apartment complex.” They had planned to meet there. ”
The committee plans to hold another hearing in the coming weeks.
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