A new court filing submitted Monday by former Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer in the Georgia election case against former President Donald Trump reveals Cobb County Co-Chief Deputy District Attorney Cindi Yeager (pictured above) is now willing to testify that she overheard a phone call made by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to Terrence Bradley, the former law partner of special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Willis called Bradley, according to the filing, to discuss the details of a news article reporting the financial fees charged by Wade and his law firm to Fulton County after Willis appointed him to prosecute her case against Trump. It is also claimed that Willis told Bradley not to discuss what he knew of her relationship with Wade during this conversation.
One of two contemporary articles detailing Wade’s compensation was published by The Georgia Star News on September 13, when Wade had been paid almost $550,000 for his work prosecuting Trump and those who contested the 2020 election results in Georgia.
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By time the revelation that Wade was romantically entangled with Willis surfaced, the amount he earned was special prosecutor swelled closer to $1 million.
Two days earlier, an article published by the Washington Examiner about Wade’s pay quoted attorney Phil Holloway, who called his appointment “certainly unorthodox.”
“It’s certainly unorthodox and appears to be a cash cow for any lawyer paid by the hour,” Holloway told the outlet in September 2023. “I’ve been practicing criminal law in Georgia for 24 years, and I’ve never seen such an arrangement.”
Willis reportedly warned Bradley about such reporting in a phone call, according to the filing.
“In or around September of 2023, Mr. Bradley was visiting Ms. Yeager in her office when Mr. Bradly received a telephone call. Ms. Yeager could hear that the caller was District Attorney Willis. District Attorney Willis was calling Mr. Bradley in response to an article that was published about how much money Mr. Wade and his law partners had been paid in this case,” Shafer’s filing claims.
Additionally, Yeager will apparently testify she heard Willis tell Bradley, “They are coming after us.”
Yeager then heard Willis instruct Wade’s former law partner, “You don’t need to talk to them about anything about us.”
Text messages released last week revealed Bradley communicated extensively with Ashleigh Merchant, the defense attorney representing former White House opposition researcher Michael Roman in the case.
Bradley testified three times during the hearing to disqualify Willis from the case due to her relationship with Wade, who paid for luxurious vacations for the couple using his company credit card. Wade and Willis separately testified that she repaid him for the purchases in cash or by paying for incidental expenses during the trips.
Despite Bradley admitting in court that he told Merchant that Willis and Wade started their affair years earlier than they claimed, he testified he was merely speculating.
Shafer’s filing also claims Yeager will testify that Willis and Wade met in 2019 and began their relationship “at or around this time.”
Additionally, it claims Yeager will testify Wade “had definitively begun a romantic relationship with Ms. Willis during the time that Ms. Willis was running for District Attorney in 2019 through 2020.”
Yeager will also testify that Bradley “stated that he had personal knowledge” of their relationship, and that Bradley told her “Wade personally prepared his own divorce complaint” then “told Mr. Bradley to sign the divorce filings and to file them” in his name, according to the filing.
Shafer’s attorneys explain that Yeager only became concerned and willing to testify after watching the testimony by Wade, Willis and Bradley.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee heard arguments for the potential disqualification on Friday and indicated he would make an opinion within two weeks, but Shafer’s filing offers Yeager’s testimony should the judge decide to reopen the possibility of testimony.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Cindi Yeager” by Cindi Yeager and “Fani Willis Press Conference” is by Fulton County DA Office.
