Republican Has Secret Witnesses Ready to Testify Against Fani Willis

Georgia state Senator Bill Cowsert says he has secret witnesses ready to testify against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

"I've had a number of citizens that have reached out and wanted to provide information or be heard or testify, possibly, in front of this committee, and we are encouraging anybody that has input or information that might be helpful to us to provide it to a committee member," Cowsert, who leads the Georgia state Senate committee investigating Willis, said towards the end of Wednesday's hearing.

The committee of six Republicans and three Democrats is investigating whether Willis showed a potential conflict of interest or misused public funds in her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired to join the prosecution of the election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his allies.

The panel's first hearing featured testimony from attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Trump co-defendant Michael Roman and was the first to reveal that Willis and Wade were in a relationship. Merchant was the first person to be subpoenaed by the committee.

On Wednesday, Cowsert said the committee had heard from "whistleblowers" in Willis' office but did not elaborate on what information was provided. He said the committee would investigate any credible allegations and that they plan to subpoena additional witnesses, as well as call Merchant back to testify further.

At the end of Wednesday's hearing, Cowsert noted that the next meeting had not yet been scheduled, but "it will be no more than a couple weeks away."

"I wanted to let the public know how you can get information to us," Cowsert said. "Each senator on the committee has a separate email address for committee business."

He added that anyone with helpful information could send it to the Secretary of the Senate, David Cook, who would pass it along to the rest of the committee. He can be reached at cook.inv@senate.ga.gov.

On Wednesday, Merchant offered new details about how she uncovered the relationship between Willis and Wade, saying she first began digging when she learned Wade had been appointed as special prosecutor.

"A lot of people in the community were surprised to see Nathan, Mr. Wade, handling this case," Merchant testified. "A lot of people said that. So a lot of people were talking about that, and it was kind of surprising. He does a lot of law practice, but this isn't what you would imagine him doing."

After she began her own investigation, she said Wade's former law partner, Terrence Bradley, told her that the relationship had begun before Willis hired Wade.

"[Bradley] did not like the way [Wade] had treated his [ex-]wife. He didn't like what was happening in the divorce proceedings," Merchant said, adding that "Ms. Wade had been a stay-at-home mom for—they'd been married for almost 30 years, and it was literally right after they dropped their youngest off at college that [Wade] said, 'Move out.'"