By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on February 24, 2024; Updated at 7:24 P.M. EST
An Editorial Opinion
The RICO and election fraud criminal case of Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants has morphed into a case about sex, lies, and cellphone data.
Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani T. Willis and Special Prosecutor Nathan J. Wade gave testimony during a hearing in the case a week ago that admitted their illicit love affair, but claimed the affair did not begin until 2022 (after she appointed him to prosecute Trump).
On Friday, Trump’s lawyer dropped a bombshell document in the case when he filed supplemental information derived from an analysis of Special Prosecutor Nathan J. Wade’s cellphone data. The analysis is presented in a sworn affidavit prepared and signed by Charles Mittelstadt, the defense’s cellphone data analysis expert.
Mittelstadt’s affidavit established that:
1. Wade and Willis made more than 2,000 voice calls to each other and exchanged just under 12,000 interactions over an 11-month period in 2021. Willis hired Wade as Special Prosecutor on November 1, 2021.
2. Wade made three dozen visits to the Hapeville neighborhood of Atlanta where Willis lived in 2021 before he was hired on November 1, 2021.
3. Wade spent the early morning hours with Willis on September 11-12, 2021, and November 29-30, 2021. These dates are before and after Wade was hired on November 1, 2021.
Cellphone tracking data is a highly sophisticated forensic tool. The analysis derived from this data is routinely used by law enforcement officials in criminal cases to pinpoint the location of drug-traffickers, terrorists, gang members, mafia figures, and fugitives from justice.
This tracking data is also used by 911 operators worldwide to pinpoint the exact location of persons in need of emergency assistance who do not know where they are.
Mittelstadt’s cellphone data analysis appears to contradict the sworn testimony of Willis and Wade on (a) when their illicit affair started and (b) when Wade began to spend the night with Willis.
Mittelstadt’s data analysis also appears to support the sworn testimony of Robin Yeartie, an ex-employee of the DA’s office and Willis’ onetime friend. Yeartie testified the Willis Wade romantic relationship began in 2019 and continued each year thereafter.
Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee set a hearing for March 1, 2024, to decide whether to admit Mittelstadt’s affidavit and Wade's cellphone records into evidence.
Mittelstadt is expected to be a witness at the hearing. Judge McAfee may also call Willis and Wade back to the witness stand.
Willis Objects to Using Cellphone Data as Evidence
Late Friday, Fani Willis filed a Response to the cellphone data and analysis. Willis asked Judge McAfree to exclude this forensic evidence, arguing that the records do not prove the content of communications between Willis and Wade, nor do they prove that either person was at a particular address.
Willis said that "the phone records simply do not prove anything relevant."
"The records do nothing more than demonstrate that Special Prosecutor Wade’s telephone was located somewhere within a densely populated multiple-mile radius where various residences, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and other businesses are located," the Response said.
Somebody is Lying Under Oath
If Judge McAfee determines that any aspect of Willis’ and Wade’s February 15, 2024, testimony was NOT credible, he is free to disregard all of their testimony, including their sworn testimony of undocumented cash reimbursements for their expensive romantic getaways to exotic ports of call.
Based upon their sworn testimony, which now appears to be contradicted by forensic evidence, Fani Willis and Nathan Wade are in big trouble.
Somebody is lying under oath in this case about the material facts relating to Willis’ and Wade’s illicit love affair. It’s either Robin Yeartie or Willis and Wade.
Willis and Wade should NEVER have put themselves in this terrible position.
No matter how Judge McAfee rules on defense motions to disqualify Willis and Wade, the sex, lies, and cellphone data on the disqualification issue have damaged Willis' criminal case against Trump.
What is more, there will likely be future law enforcement investigations into:
Whether Willis misspent taxpayer dollars on Willis?
Whether Willis received unreimbursed and unreported gifts from Wade?
Whether Willis and Wade committed perjury on the witness stand?
Whether Willis and Wade have obstructed justice?
Today, Fani T. Willis' RICO and election fraud criminal case against Donald Trump and his co-defendants is hot mess, and she has only herself to blame for this mess.