>urge her former boss to appeal to her independent and Democrat voters
LIVE: Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations Hearing on Fani Willis
Merchant: They [Georgia district attorneys across the state, per her open records request] paid between forty and sixty dollars an hour, which tends to be about the going rate for appointed council.
[Willis authorized $250 per hour to Wade]
Merchant: I watched hundreds of Board of County Commissioners meetings, just to make sure that I wasn't missing anything; that she [Willis] never went and asked approval for these special prosecutors
Merchant: She [Willis] was awarded, for the end of 2021…she was awarded for September, until December 31st, seven hundred and eighty thousand dollars, and then the next year, not to exceed up to five million.
Merchant: I did open records based on this [hiring of new employees by district attorneys office in November and December 2021] asking who was hired, and the dates of hire, because I wanted to e able to track that, and that was denied.
Question: Who made that denial, the DA's office, or the county?
Merchant: The DA's office.
Question: Was there ever a request for additional funding for a special prosecutor to pursue these election cases?
Merchant: No there wasn't, and I knew that before we got the district attorney's [Willis] response, but subsequently we got a response from the district attorney's office that said, 'We didn't do it. We don't have to do it. I'm a constitutional officer.' So their argument was, we don't have to comply with those statutes or those rules, because she's saying she's a constitutional officer, so she doesn't have to get county approval. She can spend her budget however she wants.
Question: So using this technique, that didn't obtain approval, and didn't have to follow the ethical guidelines of her own office, she [Willis] was able to pay him [Wade] seven hundred thousand dollars over two or three years?
Merchant: Yes.
Question: Way more than he would have made as an employee?
Merchant: Way more, and also, he is able to have a private practice, which is significant, because you're not able to have a private practice if you're an employee [as opposed to being a 'special prosecutor'].
Haley: I have always been a conservative republican, and always supported the republican nominee, but on this question, as she did on so many others, Margret Thatcher provided some good advice when she said, "Never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind." It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party, and beyond it, who did not support him. And I hope he does that
Question: Do you have reason to suspect, or can you confirm whether or not Miss Willis or Mr. Wade were coordinating with the Biden White House in the course of this investigation and prosecution?
Merchant: The discovery; a lot of our discovery involves the January 6th [committee]; a lot of what we have in discovery is the sane stuff that other places have, so they had to have gotten it from somewhere. And they also; they read a lot of the testimony, they played testimony in the special purpose grand jury. I don't know how they got all that, but they got it somehow…I did an open record for the White House access, and we have records that Miss Willis and the mayor of Atlanta were meeting with the vice president.
Question: Had Mr. Wade ever tried a felony case, prosecuted a felony case before this, to your knowledge?
Merchant: No. He has never prosecuted a felony case.
Merchant: I did open records to the probate court, to the superior court, and there was no oath of office filed [by Wade]…I wanted to see if he had taken an oath…and there wasn't one. So, once I learned that, I was like, 'Why are they not filing an oath. This is odd.' There's no public approval of these contracts, there's no oath of office filed. This is different. What's going on? We later found out that he had taken an oath, but nobody had filed it. And the law requires; there's a stature that requires you actually file it
Merchant: It's pinging from his house [Wade's cell phone], all the way to the condo [Willis'], at midnight, one am. And he calls her when he gets there. And then it goes silent for four or five hours, and then early in the morning hours, he starts pinging again, driving back, and then he texts her when he gets home.
Question: And this is before he gets hired in November of '21?
Merchant: Yes.
Graphic displayed in hearing showing approximately twelve thousand interactions in 2021 between Wade and Willis. Two thousand, seventy-three voice calls, nine thousand, ninety-two text messages.
Question: So Wade calls Bradley's best friend, says, 'You better call Bradley. Remind him he's got attorney-client priveledge with me, and he better not spill the beans'?…tampering with witnesses?
Merchant: …it seemed like tampering.
Question: Did he interpret that as Miss Willis trying to intimidate him from revealing this affair?
Merchant: Or Mr. Wade. He took it as intimidation, yes.
Merchant: Prosecutors aren't allowed to publicly condemn an accused prior to trial, and she [Willis] made a speech at a church, and said this was racially motivated. Talked extensively about the clients being guilty…she's made a number of public statements condemning their guilt, which is not allowed.
Question: That's inappropriate conduct for a prosecutor?
Merchant: Very much so. And there's case law on that. There's Bar rules on that.
[attention: Letitia James kek]
Question: So what are the consequences for an attorney to give sworn testimony that she [Willis] did…[if] your track call data, your other independent verifications are found to be truthful?
Merchant: It's a crime. It's a felony. You'd lose your license. It's perjury.
Question: Same for Wade?
Merchant:: Yes.
Senator Harold Jones. He appears to be exposing himself as being corrupt.
Merchant: I have heard a lot about what happens in a grand jury…it is a very low standard of proof. It's probable cause. I have had clients who are dead, indicted.
Question: So you're saying the grand jury has flaws?
Merchant: One hundred percent.