The Fulton County District Attorney's Office on Friday filed a response questioning an analysis of phone records submitted by former President Donald Trump's lawyers. Timeline given by Prosecutor Fani Willis On when his relationship with Special Counsel Nathan Wade began.
Trump's lawyers on Friday submitted an analysis of cell phone data attributed to Wade as part of a motion to disqualify prosecutor Fani Willis and her office from prosecuting the case. President Trump, 2020 Georgia election interference scandal. The defense team used this data to show that on September 11, 2021, September 12, 2021, and November 29, 2021, and November 30, 2021, Wade visited the apartment where Willis lived from late at night until early in the morning. I'm trying to prove that. In that same year. Willis confirmed the relationship Wade and Willis testified under oath last week that their romantic relationship began in early 2022 after Willis hired Wade to work on his Georgia election case.
A person close to Mr. Willis said lawyers in his office are trying to challenge the interpretation of the data presented by Mr. Trump's lawyers. If the data analysis proves accurate, it could provide strong evidence that Wade and Willis misled the court about when their relationship began.
In Willis' filing, the district attorney objected to the defense's documents, saying the data “includes two phone records that have not been admitted into evidence, as well as affidavits and unqualified opinion evidence. and other documents,'' and asked the court to exclude the data. Willis said in his filing that Trump has not provided the court with sufficient written notice or a summary of the “purported expert testimony” and has not provided any information about the witness's qualifications as an expert witness. He said it was not provided.
Willis also argued that the phone records themselves were not authenticated, arguing that the records “do not in any way prove the content of the communications between Special Counsel Wade and District Attorney Willis.” They do not prove that the two “were in the same location at any of the listed times,” nor do they “evid that District Attorney Willis was in different locations at multiple relevant dates and times.” It clearly shows that.” He worked for the Fulton County District Attorney's Office and visited “three crime scenes.”
The Trump team's analysis was conducted by a private investigator who used a geofencing analysis tool called CellHawk, which investigators call the “gold standard” for analyzing cell phone records.
The defense team in the case alleges that Willis entered into fraudulent deals with Wade during their relationship, including him on the prosecution team and paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars so that the two could benefit financially. is trying to prove.
Sources said on Friday that attorneys for the prosecutor's office were searching for their own expert witnesses who could refute the claims of Trump's lawyers. Their hope is to submit a response as early as Friday or this weekend.
“The interpretation of the data is not what you think it is,” a source told CBS News.
Although prosecutors' attorneys are not expected to argue that Wade did not visit the condo multiple times — in fact, both Wade and Willis have testified that Willis was there 10 times. –But he would argue that the relationship has not developed into an illicit one. The romance between them.
Sources also said it was not unusual for Willis to hold work meetings at the condo. Wade did not work in the prosecutor's office until November 2021, but sources say he was part of her “kitchen cabinet” before then. At one meeting, Mr. Wade was participating in a discussion about the Atlanta spa shootings in which eight people were allegedly shot and killed by a deranged 21-year-old gunman, officials said.
At the end of a two-day hearing last week, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee asked defense attorneys whether they had any other witnesses or evidence they planned to introduce. Only Trump's lawyer, Stephen Sadow, did so. He informed McAfee that the defense had obtained cell phone records and wanted them to be part of the record. He said the records related to questioning Mr. Wade about visits to the apartment complex and spanned the period from February to November 2021.
“Based on our preliminary investigation, we would like to reopen and present the records so that someone can explain what they mean,” Sadow said.
Judge McAfee took a noncommittal attitude. However, if the prosecutor's office responds further with evidence that refutes the cell phone data Sadow brought forward, McAfee will hold an evidentiary hearing instead of proceeding immediately to closing arguments, currently scheduled for March 1. It may be extended.
If that happens, both sides will argue about the reliability of the data and which interpretation is correct. But a key question that could decide Willis' fate in the case is whether the judge believes the Fulton County Attorney's Office misled the court, legal experts say.
Willis' most dedicated defenders continue to rally to her side. Norman Eisen, a lawyer and former Obama administration ethics leader, questioned the reliability of cell phone data and defense tactics in an interview with CBS News.
“This type of data is unreliable, as evidenced by similar failures in the 2020 Mule incident,” Eisen said. False claims by election deniers In 2020, Dropbox was used to fraudulently vote. Additionally, Eisen said the issue should have been raised sooner by Willis' lawyers “when they could have verified it.” Still, Judge Eisen acknowledged that “as a general rule, judges are always concerned about the integrity of the judge before them,'' and noted that in this case, the defense “wanted a bridge too far.'' “We are trying to cross a bridge that is on unstable foundations.”