District Attorney Fani Willis testified in defense of herself on Thursday in a misconduct hearing … and it probably wasn’t a good decision. Willis took the stand to push back against an attempt to disqualify her from heading Georgia’s election interference case against former president Donald Trump. But she may have revealed TOO MUCH about her alleged affair and her practice of keeping large sums of cash at home. Glenn and Stu review the “incredible” testimony.
TranscriptBelow is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: So I don't know the last time I enjoyed a court case, as much as the one -- as much as the Fani Willis court case yesterday.
Fani Willis, in case you don't know, she's the woman that is going after Donald Trump.
In Atlanta. And she's fantastic. Just love this.
So apparently, she was having an affair, with one of her underlings. And I don't know if he was under let's just leave it at that. Having an affair. And paying all kinds of money. In fact, a lot more than anybody else on her staff. In that -- in that role.
But he was such an expert.
And they found out that, you know, those two were having an affair. And he was cheating on his wife.
And -- and it looks like, there's some ethics problems there.
So now she's in court, because her credibility is shot. And the Trump people have said, she really needs to be removed from this case. Because she's got, you know, ulterior motives. And there's another agenda going on, et cetera, et cetera.
So do you see it yesterday, Stu.
STU: Oh, yes.
Oh. I sure did, Glenn. I watched every second of it, I could ingest. It was incredible.
GLENN: Yeah. It was -- it was -- it was good.
The first thing that I saw, was he gets up on the stand. And he's testifying, that, well, he must lie to the court, during his divorce proceedings.
You know, he just got divorced, when was it?
Last year. No. This year, right?
STU: It was very recent, yeah.
GLENN: Very recent. Maybe it was early. Or late last year.
But he got -- he got a divorce. And all this came up in the divorce court.
That he was having an affair with Fani Willis.
Well, he denied that this court.
And when asked about it, he said, well, it's because his marriage had -- what is it?
STU: Irreconcilable differences?
GLENN: Yeah. And he couldn't -- so his marriage was over. So he considered his marriage over, when he was having an affair.
STU: See, I consider my marriage over, on Friday nights, and Saturday nights.
And then it repicks back up on Sunday.
GLENN: I like that.
STU: Is that a new thing?
You can name when your marriage is over. And it's not cheating.
GLENN: No. Our marriage was over at that point.
STU: I remember Bill Clinton being -- hey, yeah. When she's under the desk, the marriage is over.
And then we flip the switch back on for public appearances.
GLENN: I've never heard that excuse before.
STU: I like that. I like that.
GLENN: Okay. So he did that.
And then apparently, he was reimbursed for all the vacancies and everything else. Play cut three, please.
VOICE: You said in the affidavit that you roughly shared travel, though. Correct?
VOICE: Yes, ma'am.
VOICE: Okay. So this roughly shared travel, you're saying she reimbursed you.
VOICE: She did.
VOICE: And where did you deposit the money she reimbursed you?
VOICE: It was cash. She didn't -- she didn't give me checks.
STU: I think this is so obvious.
VOICE: She gave you cash for her share of all --
VOICE: Mr. Schaffer, you'll step out, if you do that again.
STU: Someone laughed.
VOICE: And so all of the vacations that she took, she paid you cash for?
VOICE: Yes, ma'am.
VOICE: And you purchased all these vacancies on your business credit card, correct?
VOICE: Yes, ma'am.
VOICE: And you included those deductions on your taxes, correct?
VOICE: No, ma'am.
STU: There's so much here. We're deep in it at this point. But just to think about what they're saying here.
Because if you back up a little bit, the reason why this is an issue. And why this was brought up by one of the codefendants, as well as Donald Trump and Giuliani and all the other guys. A smaller reason that nobody ever talked about.
The reason it was brought up. If they're having an affair, he's making hundreds of thousands of dollars from this trial. Fani.
Fani Willis is motivated to continue this trial for as long as possible, because her boyfriend is getting all this cash. So instead of having a pursuit of justice.
You have a pursuit of your own financial benefit. Because the longer this goes on. The more assignments this guy gets, the more money he gets.
And then they go on vacations together, which he's paying for. This is the accusation.
If that's the case, maybe the motivation here is to not get us to justice here for the people of Georgia.
But maybe to make sure she gets to Belize and Aruba and Miami, and all the other vacations they discussed during this.
So that's the reason why this is important, partially.
The other part is that they said, the relationship didn't start to 2022. And if it started before that, they lied to the court.
That's a whole other problem.
GLENN: There's plenty of problems here.
There's plenty of problems.
STU: Their excuse for this.
That we're supposed to believe.
They actually are telling us, we should believe this excuse.
Is that Wade buys expensive vacations to Aruba and a bunch of different places. He puts it on his business credit card. And then they go on the vacancies. They spend all this money. Napa Valley.
Thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on these vacations. And then she shows up, and just hands him $4,000 in cash, which in turn, he never deposits into his bank account.
We are supposed to believe that there's no record of any of this happening. Because, of course, it's all happening. There's no cash. There's no Venmo. No cash app. No checks. Nothing.
It's all cash. They happen he takes the cash. And never deposits any of it into his bank account.
GLENN: He said, he may have given some of it to his children.
STU: Of course. Yeah.
GLENN: May have done that.
STU: Now, of course, it's important to understand how human beings act. And this series of events, has never occurred between two human beings in American history.
There's never been a case ever in history, where a man bought something on his business card for $8,000, and then when he showed up for the vacation, his girlfriend paid him back $4,000 in cash, which he never deposited. This has never occurred in the history of human interaction.
GLENN: Well, are you done can?
STU: No! I can keep going for hours on this. It's fascinating.
GLENN: I mean, you have no idea.
You have no idea what it means to be a black woman.
STU: Apparently not. Apparently not.
GLENN: You have no idea what it means to be a black woman.
STU: This was her excuse, by the way, Glenn. What you're saying here, is not a joke.
This is really what she said.
GLENN: No. This is not a joke, Stu.
I've got it from the Washington Post. She explained, the two split the cost. With Willis paying him back in cash, thousands of dollars in cash.
At the time, many businesses only accepted electronic payments, and many people never carried cash.
Why Willis was handing over wads of untraceable dollars.
He began many sentences with, well, here's the thing. And by the time, he reached to the end of the sentence, there was no thing there.
Now, remember, this is the Washington Post.
Okay?
But then, then Wade sat in the witness chair, his gray plaid three-piece suit, with his white French cuff shirt. Gold cufflinks. And powder blue pocket square.
He grimaced and smiled, and repeatedly referenced his wife's affair as his cause for filing for divorce in 2021, even though no one had asked him why he split with his wife.
But rather, when he started his relationship with Willis. But the two have said the romance began, after he became a special prosecutor. Afterwards.
He had a hard time with the time line of his relationship. He drank lots of water. Dabbed his face. And sniffed even more vigorously.
Then they talk about how they started, you know, giving all of the -- giving all of the money.
Willis lectured the gathered attorneys. On the philosophy of behind keeping cash on hand.
Her father taught her that cash was king.
And a woman should always be financially self-reliant.
And so, yes, she had stashes of cash, that she had accumulated over time.
And she used it to reimburse wade.
She dipped into it, before a trip, so she could pay taxi drivers, or barter with vendors.
Her description of her father's advice was a compressed version of a very complicated history and modern day habit.
She didn't go into the discomfort that some black people have with financial institutions. Or the way in which banks have made it more difficult for black people to do business with them.
She didn't mention more older people believe in keeping ready cash, that a significant percentage of black and Hispanic Americans use cash for their predominant payment method. She didn't have to.
She simply talked about what her father had told her to do, as a matter of independence and power. I don't need any man to foot my bills, Willis said.
Wow.
STU: You got. By the way, she kept bringing up the dad.
Like, my dad would be disappointed that I only had $40,000 at my house. Just okay. By the way, the dad, a former Black Panther. In case you were interested, why he was so motivated to have cash.
He was a former Black Panther. A little note, as the -- the possible --
GLENN: Listen to the way you're framing this.
STU: Yeah. I am framing it, as someone with a very extreme group. The history of that.
GLENN: Well, let me play the counter point here.
And point out what the New York Times said.
STU: Uh-huh.
GLENN: Willis sat in the witness chair for hours.
Or more precisely, she reclined in the chair.
Woman explaining how men defined relationships. And how they would end them.
She did so, while wearing a fuchsia dress. And a single strand of beads around her neck. Her hair was styled in the soft shoulder length curls, and her eye makeup was precise and intentional.
Shush. This is journalism. She was a singular, bright shot, surrounded by a black-robed judge. And lawyers, mostly in somber suits.
Only Willis and her main inquisitor merchant, who wore a cobalt blue dress under a white blazer, stood out in the room of sobriety.
Willis walked into court, as a woman on the ropes. Some would say, the hearing was a mess of her own making. Others, might believe the whole mess is a extraction for more important matters.
But either way, Willis fought back with gob-smacking fury.
Defiant in power pink. And --
STU: Incredible. By the way, I think that's the same story that ends this way.
The hearing resumes on Friday. Ms. Willis is expected to take the stand for more grilling.
The defense lawyers will likely crowd again on to one side of the packed courtroom. They are, in aggregate, a sea of boxy wool suits and white male faces.
GLENN: Oh, my gosh.
STU: What the hell kind of coverage?
GLENN: Oh, my gosh.
STU: An aggregate sea of white faces.
What the hell is this?
It's like, they just hired Ibram Kendi to cover the trial. What is going on?
It's embarrassing.
GLENN: Well, here's one thing: We will get back to the actual testimony, because it's funny.
Let me just give you something that I found useful to understand what happened yesterday.
Megyn Kelly said yesterday on X. Watching the Fani Willis, Nathan Wade hearing, they are toast. Capitalized "toast."
One, her former close friend testified that the romantic relationship began well prior to when Fani hired her.
By years, which means they lied to the court.
Two, Wade claimed Fani reimbursed him for all the expensive trips, but no record of that. Because it was all in cash. O-M-G.
He definitely got caught lying on his earlier court submissions in divorce court.
And attempted to say the reason he falsely swore he had no receipts.
Was because he had only credit card statements.
Well, I mean, hello, she writes. I have secondhand embarrassment.
Credit card statement. That is a receipt, you dope.
He testified, he had no records of it.
And then yesterday, it was. You don't have credit card statements?
Well, yeah. I have that.
But that's not a receipt.
Or I'm sorry. I didn't know we were talking to a third grader.
STU: Of course. Obviously, I guarantee he submitted credit card statements for purchases. Expense reports at his office.
I guarantee he's done that. As every other person who has ever given an expense report has done.
It's just so bad.
And, Glenn, like you mentioned. The friend who said, this started in 2019.
Which would be basically the whole thing is blown up. If they lied about the starting part of this affair.
That was the second witness who came in, and called by -- by the defense.
To -- to testify to this fact.
The first one that came in, was one of his attorneys.
And he got out of it, with attorney-client privilege.
So they had a second person, who was going to say it. But was able to get out of it on a technicality. They obviously wouldn't call him, if with he was going to say it.
They now have multiple witnesses. Only one on the record. Saying it would happen in 2019.
So it is like, this is a catastrophe for them.
And everything that you're getting from the coverage is, number one, she's a strong black woman. And number two, she was wearing fuchsia.
GLENN: Yes. But it was beautiful. It was just beautiful. And she stood out in the room, as a bright, bright light.