Text messages obtained by The Associated Press show that a former law partner of a special prosecutor in the Georgia election case against Donald Trump was sharing information with an attorney for one of Trump’s co-defendants.

Attorneys for Donald Trump and other defendants in the Georgia election interference case hoped that lawyer Terrence Bradley would provide key testimony in support of their effort to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — and they had good reason for their optimism.

Over several months, Bradley had been in touch with Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, according to hundreds of text messages produced by Merchant as evidence and obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Through the texts, Bradley fed Merchant information and made suggestions to help her prove that Willis had dated Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor hired for the election case. As Wade’s former law partner and onetime divorce attorney, Bradley was well positioned to know things, and the texts seem to back that up.

But when he took the stand to testify under oath in mid-February, Bradley initially refused to answer most questions, asserting attorney-client privilege. On Tuesday, when the judge compelled him to testify after determining some of his communications with Wade weren’t privileged, he repeatedly said he didn’t know or couldn’t remember crucial details. CNN reported on the text messages Wednesday.

  • normanwall@lemmy.world
    41·
    4 months ago

    Weird, what’s this guys motivation? And then why his change of tune? We’re missing something key here

    • anon6789@lemmy.world
      27·
      4 months ago

      This article does feel a bit light on the details. I found this MSN article, which is an opinion piece, but lays out just who exactly all these people are and their relationships with each other.

      It seems Bradley worked with Wade, but was fired for sexual harrassment. There is another person, Robin Yeartie, who was also let go from the DA’s office. Both of them are the only 2 people saying Wade and Willis were dating before they made it public. Both have a potential grudge, worth slinging mud while not under oath, but since both were lawyers, now the reality of what perjuring themselves in a case this big would do to them seems to have hit home and they’ve developed amnesia.

      Based upon his testimony throughout the evidentiary hearing, it seems Bradley decided to share gossip and innuendo that he had heard from other sources, none of which is attributable to Wade or Willis and, more importantly, at this juncture none of which has been confirmed to be true and accurate.

      In fact, every defense attorney who took a run at Bradley during that hearing struck out. Bradley didn’t budge. He even admitted while on the stand that he might have told lies about Wade.

      ETA: For anyone not reading the article, the text messages in the headline are not anything along the lines of proof showing they had a relationship, just Bradley ranting about how he was sure there was something, of which he has now changed his tune and says he may have overstated things, and these texts are now, I believe, are trying to be used by the Trump team to get Bradley to cooperate with them again.

      Frankly, The Office did this whole dating impropriety thing much better…

      • EatATaco@lemm.eeEnglish
        31·
        4 months ago

        It’s okay to not know something. You’re not required to have an opinion on why something may have happened

    • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      4 months ago

      I would guess that Roman’s lawyer was particularly aggressive about finding dirt on the DA, and got in contact with this guy, who was happy to oblige (because he doesn’t like the rest of them) until he realized he was about to hand Donald Trump a huge win. Might not be the best career move for him.

    • OldWoodFrame@lemm.ee
      8·
      4 months ago

      I’m thinking he never thought his involvement would become public? Maybe he has some personal issue with Willis or positive relationship with someone on the other side but doesn’t want it to be as career- and life-defining as publicly being the person who got Trump off the hook for his political interference.