Lawyer Terrence Bradley has testified that he was only “speculating” when he texted that the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis, was “absolutely” romantically involved with her special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, before she hired him.  

Mr. Bradley stuck to that position during an uncomfortable time on the stand Tuesday afternoon. His testimony, which stretched more than two hours, could aid in ending Ms. Willis’s time atop the sprawling racketeering case she has brought against President Trump and 18 others and the beginning of a possible perjury investigation.

Mr. Bradley — who once worked with Ms. Willis’s special prosecutor and former boyfriend, Nathan Wade — made a surprise appearance in court following a ruling from Judge Scott McAfee, who met with the attorney behind closed doors on Monday. The jurist determined that there are portions of Mr. Bradley’s testimony that are not protected by attorney-client privilege. 

Mr. Bradley, a practiced attorney himself, proved to be a recalcitrant witness. He repeatedly declared that he did “not recall” telling a defense attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, in a text message that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade “absolutely” started dating before she hired him. Those text messages, though, exist under the haze of hearsay, and are thus not admissible as evidence.

Mr. Bradley was prodded by defense attorneys as to why he texted one of the lawyers pushing for Ms. Willis’s disqualification, Mrs. Merchant, that he was sure that the romance began before Mr. Wade’s appointment in November 2021. By refusing to name his source, Mr. Bradley preserved his observation as hearsay, which is an “out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of whatever it asserts, which is then offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter.”

Hearsay is generally not admissible in court, though there are exceptions. Its problem as evidence is that it depends on the credibility of someone not in the courtroom, who cannot be questioned or examined. Whether Ms. Willis is disqualified, though, is a question not for a jury beyond a reasonable doubt but instead for Judge McAfee, who will consult the Fulton County codes that bar even an “appearance” of a conflict of interest. 

Mr. Bradley testified that “I never witnessed anything. … I can’t tell you anything specific, if that’s what you’re asking.” A lawyer for Mr. Trump, Steven Sadow, pushed Mr. Bradley on his claim that he spoke with Mr. Wade only once about his relationship with Ms. Willis. Mr. Bradley reiterated that he “does not recall any dates when the relationship started” and that he was “merely speculating” that Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis started dating long before he was hired. 

“Why in the heck would you speculate” in a text? Mr. Sadow asked in respect of when Ms. Willis started dating Mr. Wade. Mr. Trump’s attorney repeatedly asked Mr. Bradley why he would have opined on a matter of which he professed utter ignorance. Mr. Bradley, though, was not rattled, and merely insisted, “I have no direct knowledge of when the relationship started.”

The defendants seeking to disqualify Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade maintain that Mr. Bradley possesses information that the two started dating before the district attorney hired Mr. Wade. The two prosecutors have testified under oath that their romantic relationship only began after he was hired. 

Both Mrs. Merchant and Ms. Sadow accuse the pair of perpetrating a “fraud upon the court.” Mrs. Merchant writes in a filing that Mr. Bradley “can confirm that Willis contracted with Wade after Wade and Willis began a romantic relationship, thus rebutting Wade’s claim in his affidavit that they did not start dating until 2022.” Mr. Bradley confirmed that he said that, but not how he knew it. 

Mr. Bradley is not the sole source of concern for Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade. Judge McAfee will soon decide whether cellphone records adduced by Mr. Trump’s attorneys can be entered into evidence. An analysis of those logs performed by an investigator discloses that, before they claim to have started dating, the pair exchanged nearly 12,000 text messages and 2,000 calls. Mr. Wade was found to have visited Ms. Willis’s condominium at least 35 times.

Judge McAfee also on Monday disclosed that he has records from Delta Air Lines, which are still under seal, relating to vacations that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade took together once the special prosecutor was hired. The defendants alleged that the more than $650,000 paid to Mr. Wade by Ms. Willis’s office funded those travels to places like Aruba and Napa Valley.