um I need three documents in front of me and there the three filings of Miss Merchant three fil does anyone have the three filings of Miss Merchant does the court have the three filings of Miss Merchant when you say the filings mean like the pleadings the pleadings yes your honor okay I we could locate those for you and sual I want the one filed on January the 8th the one filed immediately after we filed ours and the final one if you want to take a break to get them I can make a copy I think we have one you know the only copy I have is going to have my notes on it so if we don't have a clean copy we have a 5 minute break I'll all right I'll sit here wait for don't who's did we elect someone who's actually making the copy you got it okay this cross do you swear me your honor whomever would like to got let's go wa let everyone get situated and then we'll go back on the right tissue you can here all right we are back on the record Deputy Scott if you could swear on our next witness I would and I do apologize Anna yes District district attorney ponnie f a n i last name is Willis um Miss Willis when how did you know to come into the courtroom right then there were people I was pacing in my office okay and um I heard someone yell his testimony is done um it only made sense to me that I would be your next witness and I've been very anxious to have this conversation with you today so I ran to the court so as soon as um you heard that Mr Wade was done testifying that's when you just assumed you would be the next Witness it only makes sense um did you listen to any of the testimony I've been in my office pacing ma'am um did you listen to any of the arguments I did hear the arguments this morning it's ridiculous to me that the you lied on Monday and yet here we still are and I did listen to that argument um um all right so that was it just the argument no testimony right I listened to the argument this morning where Adam AB body I thought did an excellent job pointing out how dishonest you were with the court on Monday and um I'm actually surprised that the hearing continued but since it did here I am great um so let's talk about first let's just talk about what you did in preparation for today um did you meet with Mr Wade at all once the M once the motion was filed did you meet with Mr Wade and talk to him about the motion that I filed to disqualify you on January this 1 January motion yes I don't know if you can say talked about um I probably had some Choice words about some of the things that you said that were dishonest within this motion so I don't know that it was a conversation as you know Mr Wade is a southern gentleman mean not so much okay but my question was did you have a conversation with him I didn't have a substantive conversation you did not I read this motion skimmed it more so and um I've probably said some Choice things to him about some of the lies that were told okay and then printed in the media because you know we used to be in a day in time where you had 60 minutes and people did stories and they verified information um and you had this great reporting but it seems today that a lawyer writes a lie and then it's printed for all of the world to see well I just want to make sure that you answer the question I asked though so my question was over Mr um I told you what happened I read the motion I am sure I told him what my opinion of it is okay and past that we had no substantive conversation you did not okay is there something you didn't understand no I just wanted to make sure that that okay you did not have a meeting with him in the conference room to discuss the motion next question merant so in the in the conference room of my office within this week you produced some Financial document that Financial document was given to me some and I'm not even sure if was given it to him by me or Mr AB body gave it to me um and I think he showed me a document in our conference room but as far as a substantive conversation I would not have I don't believe I've had any conversation with him that is substantive related to this okay um I have had conversations with him um since you filed the motion but they wouldn't be substantive to this he sent me uh very nice uh sermons that that have been done and so we've had conversations about did you listen to that sermon you you know things of that nature and I would say they were in relationship to this because I think he did it to be kind okay um let's start back in 2019 so um you and Mr Wade met in October 2019 at a conference that is correct and I think in one of your motions you tried to implicate I slept with him at that conference which I find to be extremely offensive I stayed at that conference Mr Wade was my teacher I did not meet him when he taught the class I was standing outside talking to Lisa Reeds who is a judge me and her were just having a conversation Mr Wade walks up I think they hug each other they have some brief conversation she introduces usor I'm I'm going to object we kind of thought that we ask the question answer the question not of speech so I object to the speech I agree I'm able to explain my answers I believe she's able to explain her answer that's that's M mer that's okay I can handle it Miss Willis I'll ask you just listen to the answer or excuse me the question and keep the answers confined to the question as best you can I think you'll have more than enough ample opportunity on uh when the state was able highly offensive when someone lies on you and it's highly offensive when they try to implicate that you slept with somebody the first day you met with them and I take exception to it all right well Miss Willis you'll be have the opportunity to explain all of that when it's the state's turn to ask more open-ended questions M Merchant thank you judge um so again my question was you all met at that conference though right we did the he as I stated he told taught the class I did not actually meet him when he taught the class I walked out of the class and I'm not sure if it was that exact class or we had went to lunch but we were standing in the VES like outside of the class me and judge Reed were having a conversation chit worked at a law firm I worked at back in 1996 we're getting way AAR I mean I don't mind her explaining her answers but I literally just asked if they met at that conference explaining how she met Mr Wade which was exactly the question asked by Miss Merchant his answers are more than appropriate um Miss Merchant if you want more concise answers perhaps you could lead the witness I will thank you judge um isn't it true that you met Mr Wade October 2019 Jud confence has gotten to the point where M will should be treated I think we very much want to be here so I'm not a hostile witness I very much want to be here not so much that your hostil Miss will it be an adverse witness your interests are opposed to miss Merchants Merchants insance are are cont contrary to democracy honor not to mine all right let's we can keep things moving m m next question please um Okay so we've confirmed when you met um after that isn't it true no I I I need to explain this and I think I get to explain my answers when I met him judge Reeves introduced us he handed me his business card I'm unsure if I handed him my business card but we exchanged information he said if you ever need any help give me a call and he walked to the parking lot um so after after that you started dating shortly thereafter correct a lie that's one of your lies okay um do you know Robin YY I I know her as Robin Bryant I I knew her uh so Robin did not go to my college she went to the College of uh I went to Howard University she went to Morgan State uh I met her through some people I knew um in college we hung out a bit not much because she was in Baltimore and I was in Washington DC um but we hung out a bit after college I lost contact with her I probably didn't see Robin again until maybe seven or eight years ago a chance meeting here in Atlanta but we did not have a consistent relationship from when I left college and came to Emily Law School here in Atlanta but I 8 to 10 years ago um just by happen stance I ran into her she was in Atlanta you have been friends with Robin for 30 something something years did you hear my answer Madam yes and I'm asking if you've been friends with her for 30 something years I've known her for 30 something years we certainly hung out and party together in college um she was from the DC area she would come home we party together uh wasn't close but she was certainly in the girlfriends that party together um and then like I said I ran into her about 10 years ago in Atlanta Georgia so but we didn't talk throughout that time period I didn't see her I didn't even know where she was when I ran into her I was surprised she was in Atlanta and so yes I have known her probably since 1990 1991 but we have not maintained a consistent relationship that whole time for the last 10 years or five whatever you'd like to classify it as have you been friends with her I have not spoken to Robin in um over a year I certainly do not consider her a friend now um I think that she you know there's a saying no good deed goes unpunished and um I think that she betrayed our friendship so let's narrow down the timeline though so my questions are going to be from the time period of 2019 until she no longer was employed for you the last time you all talked so all of my next questions are just focused on that time frame okay yes ma'am up until she left her office yes ma'am um during 2019 you all were friends correct yes we knew each other in 2019 during 2020 you all were friends correct we were we yes we were friends during that time period during 2021 you all were friends correct yes okay and such good friends that when you needed a place to stay you asked her if you could take over her lease that's a lie you did not move into her apartment but that's not the way you characterize it is wrong I asked if you asked if you could take over her lease I did not ask if I could take over her lease did you move into her apartment I I moved into her condo in April of 21 the circumstances around that were that Robin met her husband they wanted to move into a another and separate place she wanted to get rid of her condo my father was living with with me at the house because of this case and because of my stance on gangs my life was being threatened regularly my father urged me to leave our home at the same time as luck would have it Robin wanted to give up her lease because she wanted to move in with this new man she met who eventually became her husband and so as life circumstances worked my dad was begging me to leave the house he was afraid for me afraid for his grandchildren she wanted someone to take over her lease so that she didn't you know have to pay a fee or get abandoned and so I don't remember when but probably March or April of 21 I move in and take over her lease and did you pay her her or did you pay the um leasing agent no I don't even know who the leasing agent was I paid her you paid her did you pay her cash or J C um there were sometimes that I would give her cash and there but mostly I paid her via cash app that would be the most convenient thing so I would not only give her her rent but then like when the utilities would come in whatever the utility was she might be like I need 70 bucks I need $100 whatever it was and um we never had a problem with money I whatever she told me it was I never asked to see a bill I never questioned her I just gave it to her what um what percentage would you say you paid cash versus cash out oh most the the vast majority was Cash app I I don't know what percentage I'm not going to guess that but the vast majority was Cash app but there would be times she would say you know this bill came in at 70 bucks here go 70 bucks um did you have a monthly rent amount that you paid her I can't remember it was $4 $1,500 I can't remember what it was and it would vary which I I don't understand to this day but like I said I I never questioned her when did she said it was that's what I paid when did you I abruptly moved out in February uh either late January or early February of 22 of 22 February 2022 is that what she said January February 22 I I believe it is January but um I I paid her half the rent of February of 22 is what I remember and um cuz I was offering to pay the whole rent even though I didn't live there I didn't think it was right um and she I didn't I ended up just paying her half the rent um so that's after you moved out you said you half okay and um the time that you said you had to move out of your house because you were scared um did your dad stay there house I was my father was concerned yes we were both concerned okay but he's he remained there my father's 80 years old he would have been 79 he was scared to death of covid you have to go back to when this was my father is an older man um I wanted him to move out we had some discussions about him moving out and what he decided was the risk of covid was more dangerous than the risk of the people that were threatening um typical man more worried about about his daughter and his grandchildren than his own safety uh you'll get to meet him and you'll understand he doesn't scare too easily so your grandkid or his grandkids were living at the house as well at that time well I don't know how old your children are but when you have adult children they leave and they come back they leave and they come back so there have been periods of time that they're there they come they do whatever they want to do children do what children do as long as their mother has a house they'll come to it unfortunately now the threats because of this case gotten so extreme I just pay a mortgage and no one lives there um and that's what I was going to ask you so when you moved out in I think you said April 2021 you left your dad and your two kids at the house my dad and my two kids were not at the house they were not okay so they didn't still live at your house my youngest daughter certainly did not live there my oldest daughter would come back and forth I can't say month for month when she was there when she was not there I know that she has been there um post me moving out at this time no one is at my house okay so at some point after you moved out for for the safety reasons your at least one of your children did come back mer can we get to either the relationship or the financial benefit um so um let's see we were back at 2021 so you were still friends with Miss YY then um were you also friends with Mr Bradley I don't I've never been friends with Mr Bradley you've never been friends with Mr Bradley no I don't um I don't consider us to be friends I certain I don't dislike Mr Bradley but I don't consider us to be friends um is he someone that you would have in your phone and you would message with uh I might have text messaged him okay um would you text message him and Mr Wade on the same conversations I don't recall doing that but if it happened it it wouldn't surprise me okay so that don't that wouldn't surprise you the three of you okay how frequently would you think that the three of you would have text Tex I wouldn't think very often but you're asking me to recall I don't even know what time period you're asking me to recall but I I'm not going to speak to that because I just really don't know the answer to that so I don't want to speculate as to how often that would happen um but it's not out of my practice to text two people on one text message so if you told me that happened and showed it to me it wouldn't surprise me although I have no recollection of it but there would be some Rec record of it in your phone or phone records would have some record of those texts um talk about you know you said that sometimes you paid Miss YY cash um when you wentor sorry when you went on vacation with Mr White um let's let's just go one by one let's um let's start with the first one what's the first time you went on vacation with Mr Wade I think the first time we went on vacation was around April of 22 and it's a vacation is a stretch but I'm trying to be comprehensive um I recall April of 22 his birthday is March the 18th um so that would have been his 49th birthday um I took him to like Tennessee for the day I think we went to a museum I think we might have stayed the night I'm not sure but I mean Tennessee is kind of hard to call a vacation but I just am trying to be inclusive and it like I said I don't think I know it wasn't more than a day um she didn't spend the night I think that we did that's what I'm telling you I think that there's a possibility that we stayed that night in April of 22 who paid for the hotel I think I did it was his birthday um and would you have used a credit card probably maybe a DE when I started dating Mr Wade it was right around then um April 20202 22 yeah it was around there I don't know like you know it's not like when you're in grade school and you send a little letter and it says well you be my girlfriend and you check it I don't know the day that we started seeing each other but it was early 22 is my recollection okay early 22 and you all went to Florida on vacation as well I don't recall going to Florida on vacation with him you never went to Florida with Mr Wade we went to when we went to get on the cruise ship we went to Miami okay that's the only time that you went to Florida with him I think we went to Miami and spent the night that's my recollection okay I think we spent one night so that we wouldn't miss the ship that's my recollection of our paid for that hotel in Miami I don't remember that and how'd you get to Miami we would have flown and we've done that so that I'm clear we've done that twice I think one time we stayed and I honestly can't tell you did we stay when the ship left or did we stay when the ship came back I also can't tell you so there's two cruises out of Miami there's one that's in that October time period that was with his mom and then there was another that was a New Year's Eve trip I know I paid for the New Year's Eve trip cu the tickets were 697 each and I thought this is ridiculous that the tickets are $700 to go to Miami but when you TR during New Year's Eve you know they get you um so let's let's just back up and talk about the first time that you went to to Florida with Mr Wade um that was the time that you said you stayed in Miami at the hotel the first night that's the time I told you I am not sure so I'm not sure of two things so I want to make sure that my testimony is clear I'm not sure if we stayed in Miami on the October trip I'm not sure if we stayed in Miami on the December trip I just can't remember that and I also don't remember so that the record is clear I don't remember if the necessity was as we got on the ship or we got off the ship but I do remember there was a night Span in Miami because either whatever I don't remember but I think that there was a night Span in Miami that cruise is um the one that you took in October right ma'am I I if you have a something to refresh my recollection I'm intentionally trying to not be difficult with you but I don't want to make up something right I know that on one of those two trips who stayed in Miami I am not sure right now you're asking me about oh I think I'm sorry you misunderstood I wasn't asking you which I was not asking you which night you stayed in Miami I'm asking if you took a cruise in October 2022 with Mr wake yes and his mom and his mother that's what I was asking yes is that the first time you met his mother yes it was on that cruise and that was Royal Caribbean I believe you to I honestly don't remember what ship I know we've taken two cruises I don't know what the ships were um but he paid for the flight and the cruise on Royal Caribbean that time so yes he paid he is the original one that does it he has something called Mr Wade is a world traveler um I'm not as versed as him he's been the sixth of the seven continents um and so he has both a personal travel agent and he also has a cruise travel agent I don't know anything about either of those kind of travel agents so he is the one that would book the travel but we need to be clear when we're talking about just because booked it doesn't mean like I don't consider him having taken me any place let me just be honest the only Point that's ever taken somebody someplace is for his 50th birthday I consider that I took him to believe and I took him to believe because um you know I don't want to discuss his personal business but I'm happy Mr Wade is still here with us and I did 50 big very big um so still on that October Royal Caribbean cruise um even though he had a travel agent I'm sorry if you do me a favor I don't know what cruise ship what time so if you'll help me and say October cruise with Mama or the New Year's Eve trip with his sisters I'll be able to we can communicate I just don't know what do October cruise with Mama that's what I'm talking about he paid for the cruise and the flights for that trip so he called his Cruise agent and he booked that through them because he has a cruise agent he also has a regular uh agent I don't know the cruise agent's name so I wasn't asking about his travel agent I was just asking paid for those he did not though because the reason I consider that he did not is I gave him his money back and I was about to ask that but initially he paid for that yeah he he called his Cruise agent like I think they have his card on record they do whatever okay so initially he paid for the cruise and the flight to Miami and the Royal Caribbean cruise and my understanding of that October cruise is like it was a package the lady did for him um so and I'll get to the reimbursements and all that I'm just trying to confirm he paid for the flight and the cruise in October and I think that when you say things that way I want this record to be abundantly clear that he calls his travel agent he calls his Cruise agent they do whatever he tells them he's like on a first name basis with these people they do it and then he tells me how much it is and I give him the money back I don't just like you're asking me about the money with Robin I don't do my friends like that so if you tell me it's a g then you gonna get a $ thousand dollar if whatever it is I didn't ever make him produce receipts to me whatever he told me it was I gave him the money back isn't it true that he paid for the cruise and the um the flight on his credit card I'm not asking about reimbursement or after he used his credit card to buy the cruise and buy the flight correct I have no idea how he paid for it uh if it's a credit card if it's a debit card but certainly he called his uh Cruise agent you know like how many people have a cruise agent he calls his Cruise agent tells them where they want to go they tell him what's booked you have to remember he didn't just he paid for that initial was me him and his mother um and then after that cruise you all flew to Aruba and spent a couple days in a hotel there correct right and his mother was not happy ini paid for that he initially paid for that for Aruba yes ma'am so let's talk about both of those I know he initially paid for it did you pay him back for the cruise and for Aruba yeah I gave him his money before we ever went on that trip you gave him cash before you ever went on the trip mhm okay and so when you got cash to pay him back on these trips would you go to the ATM no l you would not go to the ATM no okay so um Fon County pays you direct deposit ium yes fton County and the uh state of Georgia both pay me direct deposits okay so the cash that you would pay him you wouldn't get it out of the bank I have money in my house you have money in your house so it was just money that was there when you meet my father he was going to tell you as a woman you should always have which I don't have so let's don't tell him that you should have at least six months in cash at your house at all time now I don't know why this old black man feels like that but he does when we were growing up my daddy had three safes in the house so my father's bought me a lock box and I always keep cash in the house now I don't do it to the degree that my father would do it so he would probably be uh ashamed with me but I always have cash at the house that has been I don't know all my life if you're a woman and you go on a date with a man you better have $200 in your pocket so if that man acts up you can go where you want to go so I keep cash in my house and I don't keep cash as good in my purse like I used to um I I don't go on many dates but when you go on a date should have cash in your pocket so my question was where did that cash originally come from if it didn't the bank cash is uh fungible had cash for years in my house so for me to tell you the source of when it comes from when you go to Publix and you buy something you get $50 you throw it in there when it's been my whole life when I took out a large amount of money on my first campaign I kept some of the cash of that like to tell you I just have cash in my house I don't have as much today as I would normally have but I'm building back up now so you just put money in it's a very good practice I would advise it to all women so you can't identify when you came into this cash or where the cash came from I didn't say I couldn't identify it no nobody gives me anything I am sure that the source of the money is always the work Sweat and Tears of me what you asked me for is when did the money go in there what I am trying to tell you is so I got divorced in 2005 from my husband and and no no no it's important you said where did the money come from and I need to tell you where the money came from and so for many many years I have kept money in my house that money in my worst days has probably only been $500 or $1,000 at my best days I probably had $155,000 in my house at C cash at all times there's going to be cash in my house or wherever I'm laying my head the money that you paid Mr Wade the cash in October of 2022 you do not know where that money came from I do know where it came from it came from my Sweat and Tears you know which job it came from did it come from f County or did it come from a private job it came from I don't I'm not what are you talking about so it could have come from a private job because before I was Da I was in private practice so I earned money during that time period that's probably in there it could have what do you mean I don't know where it came from I AB understand the situation we can move on okay thanks um same with Ruba you don't know where that cash came from either right ma'am you are mischaracterizing my testimony greatly um I'm not going to allow you to mischaracterize my testimony I know that I keep money in my house the amounts of money I gave Mr Wade it was never that serious I don't think I've ever handed him more than $2,500 in a reimbursement so we not talking about $220,000 in cash I don't have $20,000 in cash right now the most I ever gave him I know I gave him $2,500 when we went to bise because we went to one um hotel and then we went to a second hotel that $2,500 I actually gave him while we were still in believes I know that the Aruba trip the one that you described with his mom I think I gave him about $2,000 for that trip for like total is mom went to Aruba with you the Aruba trip so I consider that to be one trip so we got off of a cruise ship and then we went to Aruba which is why I cannot remember is that the time that we had to stay in Miami to wait for the flight for Aruba so I consider that one trip if we didn't like come back to Atlanta and leave we went we flew down to Miami we got on a cruise ship we spent a couple of days with his mama we came back to Miami when we came back to Miami either that day or the next day we flew to Aruba we spent a few days in Aruba and we came back that was really one trip that even though we went two places it was one trip um so let's talk about the California trip is that when you were moving your daughter out to California when you all went or did you have two trips California my daughter doesn't live in California did she ever live in California I'm not discussing to you the location of my child um so how many times did you go with Mr Wade to California once and you all stayed in Napa Valley and he paid for the plane tickets in the hotel he paid for the plane tickets and the hotel um and what did you pay for on that trip I gave him much less cash that time probably for $500 and then I paid for uh a bunch of stuff I think we did two different Wine Tours that you do which are pretty expensive um I think I bought him he likes wine I don't don't really like wine to be honest with you I like Gray Goose um I bought him a bottle of wine while we were there and the sippings that you do I can't remember how like four or five different places you go I remember we went to um to this place that they do pairings um that was the most expensive thing that I think that we did while we were there so they would pair uh they they would pair uh champagne chocolate and champagne chocolate and cab it was a three and it was like three different things Sweden Russia someplace else I'll make that up but um that that was the most expensive thing we did that trip and I paid for I paid for that you pay cash for us doing that M yeah I think I but I that trip did not cost me a lot of money I might have took like $750 in cash on me because we weren't gone very long and then I I'd only asked if you paid in cash I don't even know the amounts when I travel I always say cash um and is the cash that you keep in your house or do you keep it at the condo that you were living in so at that point it wouldn't be at my house and I'm sorry if I was not clear the money would be wherever I laid my head so I wouldn't leave the money at the house so if I was unclear no money is going to be where I stay how much did you pay for your trip to Panama to where Panama I believe I didn't go to pan I may have the location wrong I never went to Panama went to uh Panama with his frat brother oh he went to Panama with his frat brothers so tell me about let's see so I want to make sure I've got them I've got B you already covered B you covered the so let me tell you our real trips in October we went with uh we went on the cruise with his mom we got back from the cruise with his mom and we went to Aruba I consider that one trip second trip New Year's Eve we went on a cruise to the Bahamas that's the second trip want to make sure I get this right third trip 100% on me I think he might have spent $200 on that entire trip uh we went to B that was my trip that was you know his 50th and then Napa Valley we went around may I don't know the dates but it seems to me like it was close to Mother's day and those are the only trips um so that the record is complete I can remember one time driving to where were we South Carolina and we met my sister for lunch with her man um when didn't stay the I don't know but we didn't stay the night there but I guess people would consider that a trip if you drive somewhere and you come back that was insane cuz it was like 5 hours to drive we ate lunch and we drove right back um I can remember driving to some little town in Georgia I don't even know where I was um I had never been there before or after there's some boat you can get on over to and there like a slave thing if that gives anyone any reference we didn't do that um I remember doing that I remember driving one time to Charlotte we had lunch with one of my very close girlfriends and again we drove to Charlotte met my girlfriend for lunch and drove right back so that's a trip we didn't stay the night there but I just want to be complete in my testimony we drove someplace had lunch drove back um I don't remember another driving someplace distant for um lunch and coming back to Charlotte to see a girlfriend to meet my sister uh in South Carolina we went by ourselves when I told you about that remote place in Georgia we could have driven someplace else and had lunch and came back but that's all that comes to my recollection right now there could have been another place we drove and had lunch my um security team was very clear to me I'm not to be out and about in Atlanta without them and so for me to do something just very normal that a normal person would get to do if they weren't Prosecuting this case I got to drive four hours to do it and that's I was going to ask you your security detail did they take you to and from your house they take well so I haven't been able to enjoy my home condo I'm sorry March where you lay your head did they take you to and from where you lay your head 99% of the time would they take Mr Wade to and from wherever you laid your head that has never in the history of ever happened ever okay your security team has never taken him to from my house that's a lie I'm ask if they've ever taken him any and I'm telling you that that's never happened so your security team has never taken my security team has never taken Mr Wade from any place where I have lived and brought him here never not once not ever have they ever taken the two of you together to where anywhere we've left this building and um for gone to lunch but I go to lunch so rarely that that is a very rare occasion I am sure and let me be clear it wouldn't just be Mr Wade so I'm sure my security team has taken me to lunch probably been a time I've left here 7 o' going to get something to eat and I don't even know that they would have taken him or if he would have driven himself but they've taken me to do that but we're talking very few very far in between most days I don't even eat lunch and when I do it's because my assistant has heated up some Bag something and I I eat through meetings and eat in my office it's not a practice of mine to go to lunch during the time period that you were dating would your security team ever take you two together anymore no never if there was a lunch that occurred that I just described if there was a meal that I C that I just described anything outside of that and it needs to be very clear not often once twice because I want to be uh over inclusive I'm saying once or twice I'm not certain that it happened but I'd rather be over inclusive with you so your office objected to us getting um Delta records for flights that you may have taken with Mr W well no no look I object to you getting records you've been intrusive into people's personal lives you're confused you think I'm on trial these people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020 I'm not on trial no matter how hard you try to put me on trial so my question was you have any problem I object to getting any personal records of mine we're not dealing with privilege through a witness and I'm not no I'm not dealing with privilege what um we had offered to put them in camera for the court to review and I just want to know if she has any problem something to do with with a witness okay okay um you have to file as part of your job something called the income and financial disclosure report correct that's correct and you filed your first one so you filed two today is that right is it two or three I probably would have filed 21 22 and maybe I haven't filed 23 yet because isn't it due like June of the next year April I believe so you filed let's see you filed your first one it looks like April 15th 2022 and your second one um April 17th 2023 does that sound familiar I don't remember the dates but you're an officer of the court I'm G hope you're telling the truth now may I may I approach the witness you may thank you um I already gave the state copy and 21 can somebody bring me some yeah guys are getting a little old yes ma'am those are the ones that you find this this looks like me for sure yes ma'am yes ma'am CH we move to admit 20 and 21 I think you need to delineate which one's 20 is 2021 so it accounts for the time period your honor January the 1st 21 through December the 31st 2021 that is defendants exhibit 20 um defendants exhibit 2021 it accounts for the time period January the 1st 2022 through December the 1st of 2022 all right any objection to exhibits 20 and 21 nope sorry from other Council admitted without objection yeah um when did your relationship your personal relationship with Mr raid end our personal relationship ended in um this year so let's be let's be very clear so that we don't mix words I I don't want to mix words in here Mr Wade is my friend right now um Mr Wade I would say has been my friend since 2020 I think he started out as like a mentor and a professional colleague um he became my friend and somebody that I I really respect it um I feel very indebted to Mr Wade uh for taking on the task of this job and um he is certainly my friend and one of the people that I respect the most um so if you ask about a personal relationship I consider myself to have a personal relationship right now Mr Wade I consider myself to have a personal relationship with Anna cross I consider myself to have a personal relationship with Mr AB body I consider myself to have a personal relationship with Andrew Evans let me justy I have a personal relationship with him as we speak right now I don't think that's what you're asking I think relationship when did your romantic relationship with Mr Wade end did it end me and Mr Wade um we are good friends uh uh my respect for him has grown over these seven weeks of attacks uh we are very good friends I think but for these attacks it would have been a friendship that as life goes you would have stopped having um I think that you have SE minute that will be friends till the day we die that uh let's do we just have an answer to the question I'm can handle this say down let's have it she asked about a personal relationship she asked when the Romantic relationship ended that's the question it's sometime in um I'd say late summer of 2023 so I don't believe men um what this what you really asking about this is the salaciousness of all of this right no I'm just asking about your romantic relationship when you sto dating I I I think that me and Mr Wade so he's a man he probably would say June or July I would say we had a tough conversation in August so that men in relationships at the end of physical intimacy women in relationships when that tough conversation takes place and where um when did he come to I guess the condo I'm not sure what you called it condo apartment um would he come and stay at that condo or visit you there I'm sorry visit you there what condo what apartment I want to be clear so not your house I know you classified one is house and one is condo so I'm trying to use those terms so but there's been more see what you don't understand is because of this case I got move and so I you could ask him a more precise question please give me the time period Mr Wade visit you at the place you laid your head when has he ever visited you at the place you laid your head so let's be clear cuz you've lied in this this let me tell you which one you lied in right here I think he lied right here no no no no this is the truth it is a lie it is a lie say I thank you we're going to take 5 minutes than be back in five may I go the bath for oh for that's f ready judge you all right we're back on the record before we proceed though uh I advise everyone here um this being a room mostly full of lawyers who have spent their lives in a out of a courtroom we all know what professionalism looks like what deorum looks like and devoting ourselves to the rule of law and proper advocacy I would urge everyone to keep those principles in their mind starting with the fact that we won't talk over each other and from there we'll get through this Miss Merchant thank you judge how often did Mr Wade visit you at a place where you were living between 2019 and 2021 so you want to start with the lie that he lived with me in in South fton in 2019 a home he's never been to that's one lie you told in your document no judge I didn't ask her about that M Merchant I want you to ask a very precise question I think she's saying and answering that he did not live with her so why don't we break that up into smaller parts and I I didn't ask about living but you put in your while we're talking about professionalism no while we talking about professionalism she put in three different documents he Liv with me opportunity to respond filed that with the court in 2019 he's never been to South Fulton in 2019 I lived in South Fulton he has never been to my residence in 2019 ever not once 2019 he's never been to your residence any place I lived in my home in South fton before I started getting the threats that were here a house I paid for with my own Sweat and Tears I'm no longer able to live there but in 2019 I did and in the two months of 2019 that I knew Mr Wade three months the beginning of October all of November and all of December Mr Wade never came to my house in South Fulton let me help you out I live there in 2020 he never came to my house in 2020 let alone live with me as you put falsely in these documents in the first 3 months of 2021 when I could still enjoy my home Mr Wade never came to South Fulton and it is certainly a lie that he lived with me so in 2020 let's so you said 2019 20120 did Mr Wade ever visit you at a place that you res he has never been to my home in South Fulton 2020 was before I knew that a phone call was going to be made and I was going to have to abandon my home as a result there of he never visited lived at came to or has seen Southold you qualified that with your home in South I'm that's where I lived in 202020 did he ever visit you at a place that you resided okay I don't understand you're going to get me guys in 2020 I lived in South Fulton that's the only place I lived in South Fon that's before I had to abandon my home judge and at my home in southon Miss I never he never came there okay so if you don't come someplace you can't live there m that's I'm going to have to caution that's going to be my first time I have to caution you we have to listen to the questions as asked and if this happens again and again I'm going to have no choice but to strike your testimony so I need to break this down Mr Merchant's question I believe was uh asking whether you lived anywhere other than South fton I did not live anywhere but South Fulton Georgia in 2020 that is before I began my prosecution of this case and I it was my plan to only live there did Mr Wade ever visit you at the condo that you leased from Miss Yi he visited that condo yes he did yes did he ever spend the night at that condo no just visited yeah but he did visit for sure did you ever go out to eat together other than the lunches you talked about during 2019 or 2020 I would think that we probably went to lunch but it wouldn't have been let me think 2019 I'm going to say I don't know I'm I'm going to say we probably broke bread someplace in 2019 I don't remember it but it seemed like we would have broke bread sometime in 2019 so I'm going to say yes although I have no recollection um but it's seems to me like I I go out to eat and drink with pretty much everyone so I'm going to say yes so outside of the vacations that we've already talked about did you ever go out to dinner with Mr Wade I I mentioned to you that I I'm going to object as to what time period like we're asking very big questions I thought we were treating the witness as hostile under 611 we're no longer doing that so are we going to go back and forth we need to be more specific with our questions if we're going to treat her as hostile all right Miss Merchant it's not so much I think you can between leading and opening questions but I think we are still wondering about and I think we need to get back on track of focusing on the financial benefit or the relationship and my next question about if you did go out to dinner who paid when you went out to dinner he paid I paid you both paid okay so let me be real clear we didn't say oh the bill is $102 you give $51 I'll give $51 I don't operate like that with my girlfriends I don't operate like that with anyone he caught the bill I caught the bill whomever did you ever pay him through cash app no you only ever paid him through cash what yes uh we're talking about I'm very confused never given Mr Wade money through cash app no the only money you've ever given him outside of a contract is cash I didn't give him money in a contract so that was cute but I didn't give him money out in a contract what happened no we going to answer it since you said it he worked he worked more hours than he was paid and the county paid him for the work that he did so don't be cute with me and then think that you're not going to get an answer and I will ask you about the contract in a minute I asked you about cash did you ever pay him anything and I'm trying to qualify my questions I'm not talking about the contract with Fon County that was paid I'm not talking about that talking about outside of that did you ever pay him anything other than cash I've only given him cash a few times in in the course of what we're talking about if we would go to let her finish hering if we would go to dinner I wouldn't give him cash cuz he paid for dinner or I paid for dinner I've given him cash only a few times in life probably four okay probably the most money I've ever handed him is $2,500 the least amount of money I've handed him probably between $500 and $1,000 you never wrote him a check ma'am I don't have checks I um so you have no proof of any reimbursement for any of these things because it was all cash right the testimony of one witness is enough to prove a fact so my question tell that I'm lying to you is that what you're intimating right here I'm asking if you have any proof that you paid him any of these the proof is what I just told you you have no written proof is that correct so I have some um probably some transactions like in believe I probably spent $500 on my card uh INB I spent 800 I can't remember 900 bucks on each of our tickets to go to B I did the $700 I probably got some minor expenses in AR Ruba that would be on a card but for the most part for those trips other than so the two cruises I gave him money for those before we ever left um cuz they were pre-o let me answer well the the question was if you had any written proof and so so I've answered you that I've had written proof move to the next question if you've answered if we had any written proof and that was my question um I want to make sure that we're clear that for the two cruises Jud I asked if she gave him written proof we're not going to talk over Miss Merchant she answered your question so we can ask the next question Miss Willis Miss cross will have plenty of opportunities to let you clarify your answers when it's her turn thank you judge knowing your role as District ATT turn you know that public funds are scrutinized and money is scrutinized and things like that you understand sorry go ahead you understand you're under a microscope you have reporting requirements all of those types of things um you have no record other than your testimony of the money that you've given Mr wake you've already asked that question let's keep going um when you took office you had a tax lean of $4,600 did you pay that with cash when you made that tax lean hole I probably pay through uh however you pay okay so but you were saying that you had amounts of cash you still had that lean in 2022 when you were gting weight and going on these trips so the cash that you gave him that could have been used to pay this tax Lan off you going to tell me how to pay my bills I'm going object this is not relevant as it relates to why're Mr Merion um if you are you trying to establish that she was insolvent in some way um I definitely was trying to establish that that she did not have these Mass amounts of cash that she's talking about yes all right ask re ask the question um you had a tax lean in 2022 $4,600 did you say I did and you did not use this cash that you had to reimburse Mr Wade to pay that off correct no right I went shopping too when I didn't pay it all and you talked about you you gave you gave a lot of interviews to some authors of a book called fining right I would not characterize it as a lot I probably have spoken to them two or three times question relevant has to I I think it's already come up that finances are discussed in the book I'll over Ru that thank you Miss will so you can continue your answer I came up with Mr Wade as it relates to hearsay statements that he was asked about in relation to what Miss Willis may or may not have said in relation to an author so it's not relevant to the testimony that's occurring at this time I think merch Miss merchin has said that inside the book she also makes statement as to her own finances and that's that issue so you gave interviews to the authors of this book correct once or twice okay and three times just to be comprehensive I don't know if it was three times two or three times I think you were quoted in the book and I will give you a chance to say if this is a misquote you were quoted I really when they asked you about if you wanted to run for office for da you were quoted I really don't want to be financially effed up again do you remember saying that so what that refers to so that my question first is if you remember saying that I remember saying something similar to that but I would like to be able to explain what that's refence to that's not um in reference to anything else it was a huge sacrifice to be district attorney in fton County huge I was doing just fine I had a municipal court judgeship that was paying me hundred something thousand a year and like you got to show up twice a week easiest thing I've ever done in life I also had private clients that were um paying me to represent them so I was able to have a law practice and that um raising two daughters by my myself there were times in life where things were hard and so I was telling people I don't really run for da I don't want to run for da I'm me in a good position right now I got this easy job that I enjoy being the chief judge of the city of South Fulton I'm making money at uh the law firm and I'm not sure that I want to make this sacrifice and why does it always have to be me um eventually I prayed I think that I was the appropriate person I think that I did that so when you're referring to that what I'm saying is I why should I make a sacrifice again and what I was not talking about is being district attorney once you get elected district attorney you're you're in a fine financial position I make over $200,000 a year what I was talking about is I ran for judge when I ran for judge I took $50,000 of my personal money out of my retirement and that money ended up being lost and I know when you bet on yourself you're going to have to bet money on yourself and so what I was talking about was not wanting to go through the personal financial expense of running for office by no means did I think that I was going to uh be financially in a bad position once I won let's talk about what I was up against because it's important to understand that comment I had a district attorney who had been here for 24 years no no no this is it's very relevant as to what my mindset was about this so I'm trying to answer your question so what I was saying is I Taylor so it's a finances right but it is about my finances if I I didn't nobody put me in the seat so I had already run for office once I had spent $50,000 of my own money running and it was bamoo nothing and so when I'm talking to those offers I'm talking about the contemplation of the sacrifice of the Run not the sacrifice of once you become da the odds were against me I was likely going to lose uh the election based on who I was running against so that needs to be in the the appropriate context isn't it true that the authors also wrote and you can dispute this if if you'd like um that you were broke after that race the 2018 race yeah that that was a hard race I wasn't broke like I didn't have any so broke is relative to depending where you are but that hurt to lose that $50,000 so I'm sure my mental mindset was like I just gave $50,000 away right so they characterized it from their conversations with you that you were broke you had poured your own money into the campaign and you weren't able to pay your own bills because of your I'm sorry your clients couldn't pay their bills to you and you had a poultry array of family and asset forfeiture cases it says you were trying to make it month to month um is that an accurate depiction of your financial situation that point I would want to read that but I I don't I don't remember clients not being able to pay their bills or may I approach you can you may P I have not read this book so so like this fact here her ex-husband Fred have run into a financial I have no information about I didn't ask you about that I just asked about if you were what they represent from their interviews with you that you were broke and that you had clients that weren't able to to P BS can you show me where that is because this is where you put the tab so that's what I read broke put it pay their bills yeah that that uh I sure I characterize myself of broke as leaving that $50,000 I don't know that I had uh her nent law prce at part I didn't have I I didn't I test I thought I had a law practice I so this is not correct I'm sure it's just I I I didn't have any asset forfeiture cases so I had one case where uh they had took one of my clients a money at the airport that's I don't know if that's what they're care I don't know um ptry aray I did have family law cases I guess that's what they're talking about and uh clients who couldn't pay their bills ain't clients so no so my question was just if this was a fair and accurate representation where it says you were trying to make it month to month at that point no I don't think that that is actually a fair and accurate representation but I am certain that after the 2018 election um I'm still not really happy about having given up that 50,000 you know when you paid your tax Lan I don't you don't you know if you paid it I know I've paid some taxes I don't know I don't want to speculate okay um did you tell anyone at Fulton County Board of County Commissioners about your relationship with Mr Wade no did you disclose your relationship to anybody at fton County no I don't think so um and as the chief law enforcement officer of Fon County I assume that you're familiar with the county code and or ordinances I've said we're not going to cover that in this hearing Miss Merion um I'm sorry judge we we said we weren't going to cover over the county regulations okay and I I won't um let me ask you this then so are you aware that you're required to disclose any relationship with someone that you contract with in Fon County OB is the court fire ruling that you make this morning would this be different because it's a potential for impeachment yes what did you ask me I'm M Merchant if you could re ask the question okay um are you aware that Fon County requires you to disclose any relationship with someone that you're doing business with I'm not aware and I'm I know often that time things are confused with State constitutional officers and County but I'm not aware okay so it's not your so it's your understanding that you don't have a duty to disclose the Rel she answered that question let's keep going um did you keep track of this cash that you paid him at all what are you talk I don't understand did you keep track did you keep a ledger did you keep track of it so I've only given him cash as I mentioned three or four times there's no Ledger this is Friends handing money off to each other so the answer is no you I think you've already asked whether there was any written proof whatsoever and she's answered that okay so we've covered this let's move on um who were you referring to when you suggested that Mr Roman's motion to disqualified was racially motivated we already said we're not talking about the forensic misconduct that's been alleged okay and okay and just so the record is clear I don't believe I said that his motion was racially motivated so I don't want that to stay there I've never said his motion was racially motivated so that that should not I think it would be best if we don't need to go down that road uh we're going to save that for argument um you once said that you would not engage with a personal relationship with anyone that worked for Fon county is that correct uh an employee anyone that worked for Fon County I think I said an employee okay so that's the qualification you give an employee you would I think that's the statement that I made so if you want to quote me quote me accurately so it's your position because Mr Wade was not an employee or it's your position he wasn't an employee correct Mr Wade is not an employee and he will tell you that over and over again I'm sorry this statement just so I make sure I accurately quote you what you said was you won't work you won't sleep with people who work under you do you not consider Mr Wade working under you I consider Mr Wade to be an agent agent yeah and a point is what I really think of him as your point whatever Merit it has uh Miss Merchant is on the record next question all right do we need any moments in a minute Mr say down yeah I'm ready to go your all right I'm going to try to ask you questions that you can actually answer without having to explain okay yes sir my comprehension skills are pretty good so we should do all right we shall soon see if I heard you correctly you moved into what I will refer to as the yti condo in either March or April of 2021 is that correct sometime between late February and April yes I don't just so we're clear yes but in that time period you're you're in the ballpark we're in the ballpark okay and is that yti condo would you say that it is in Hapeville it is in Hapeville yes sir and you moved in there for safety reasons my father uh yes I moved in there my we were concerned my father was terribly concerned about me continuing to live at the house and it so they were clear people came to my house at 5:00 in the morning um about the police brutality cases saying I was going to have a wakeup call uh there were security threats due to gang cases and there were concerns due to the um that was at the very beginning of this looking into that and so for all of those reasons and what was happening my father wanted me out the house and um begrudgingly I left okay so the answer to the question was yes for safety reasons correct those were all of the things that caused the safety concerns I'm sorry I'm not questioning whether they are or not safety concerns I just asked that you moved into this condo the RT condo for safety reasons right yes okay at the time that you moved into the condo be it from February to April of 2021 was your father still living in your house right because my father that's all I ask you but I I get to explain the answer so I don't know if there's an explanation if I asked you was your father still living at your house the answer is either he was or he wasn't yes but you are going to get to argue at the end of this as we both know I'm not going to argue anything I'm ask be able to explain why I'm yes because my father is an older gentleman he was worried about Co and he stayed I'm going have to say that's second time whenever we have to put a pause we stop testifying okay you'll have a chance to explain yourself the question was whether your father was not staying there at the time and you're clarifying that in your answer as well you can have a brief clarification but it shouldn't be something that reaches well beyond the question all right Mr s you can Reas the question we'll see where it takes us okay thank you was your father still living in your house at the time you moved to what I would refer to as the YY condo yes sir he was due to his concerns related to covid okay the safety concern was that there was potential danger at your house is that correct yes my address had been exposed so yes there was concerns about potential danger at my house okay so anyone staying at your house in the time period after you went to the YY condo was still in danger correct yeah what no no no I think you have to uh it's your attorney Miss wellis um sorry Mr P your objection is speculation yes to the question of speculation whether someone was still in danger at her condo I can just let her the question Mr to rephrase I was able to understand it I've got the objection and then I have I'll withdraw the objection okay and I'm going remember the question so I can answer it but you you can now that the objections been withdrawn can you try to answer that question there still a safety concern for people staying at the house I yes I was very concerned about my father still living at the house however if you have dealt with an older gentleman he he was not leaving the house despite my urging him that I thought he should leave as well he did not want to leave the house cuz he was particularly worried at his age about covid but that became a I don't want to say a I was not happy with that decision of my father's but I can't ultimately make him leave and he stayed there too long in my opinion okay thank you during that period that you left to go to the yti condo did any of your children stay at your house so I don't I don't think that they were there at that point certainly my baby wasn't there I'm talking about this entire period we're talking about if I remember correctly and you'll correct me I'm sure you said that you stayed there at what I would call the yti condo until January of 2022 correct yes okay so I'm asking you in that period which would be February to April of 2021 until January of 22 did any of your children stay at your house and you don't have to yell at me I'm able to understand so I would ask you to not yell at me that being said I don't actually expressly remember but I can tell you since I have left my home there have been times my oldest daughter came in but I can't tell you with certainty the time window know that you've said if they did or not and so I don't want to speculate to that but there was some time that my oldest da daughter came back whether it was that period or after I left the Yodi residence I'm not sure okay okay so the if if I continue to go into more detail on this you're not going to be able to give me an answer of whether or not in fact any of your children were still at the house or stayed at your house during that time period correct what I can give you Clarity of so that we are clear is from the time I moved out in February is of 2021 um after I left there there was a time period that my oldest daughter came back but if you're asking me was it in that window or after I just don't have a recollection of that cuz you know your kids come and they go and so I don't remember the specific time period and I apologize for that did your children ever stay with you at the yti condo uh like maybe a night okay like for a girl's night or something but live with no okay did anyone else stay with with you at the yti condo including Miss YY never miss YY never lived in the condo she met her husband and they moved they weren quite married but they moved nobody ever lived with me in the condo that was a my word was my word was stayed not lived stayed with you at the condo I guess I don't understand the distinction but no one ever my I think my baby's my oldest child I think she spent one night with me maybe my oldest and my youngest but I think that whole time I was in that place other than that one night I don't think anyone ever um that was a very lonely period in my time life I don't think anyone ever spent the night other than maybe one night I remember a picture of my baby sitting on the couch in that place and I'm thinking she spent that night but just a very lonely time in life okay we'll stay with the lonely theme just for a minute did Nathan Wade visit you at the yery condo from the time you moved in until he was hired on November the 1st of 2021 so I moved out uh of that condo but during that time period he yeah I'm sure he came to visit uh he came to visit I can remember us going I think the restaurant's licky split I can remember him picking me up going to licky split and E ordering some food coming and sitting at my table and eating so I remember times that he visited me at that condo yes because you give us an approximation of how many times Mr Wade visited you at the condo between the time you moved in and prior to November 1 of 2020 I don't think often but I don't I don't want to speculate can we say more than five more than 10 I'm going to tell you the problem I'm having here let's say more than 10 but I'm not sure that that's even accurate uh he certainly has come and picked me up want to grab some food to eat I don't remember him being in that condo a lot okay that's your I don't I'm sorry you want a number and what I don't want to do giving me your your current and best recollection is all I'm asking for that's all I can give you sir how many times did any of the prosecution team how how many times did Anna cross come to that condo between the time you moved in in November 1st of 2021 I don't think Anna's ever been to that t what about any other prosecutor that's involved in the prosecution of this case I don't think any of them have just Mr Wade that's correct sir but it was a lonely time oh my God that yeah that 2021 uh I have a lot of guilt about this time period in my life let me tell you why but said yes it was a lonely time okay I was very appreciative to the citizens for giving me this responsibility in this dud but what I very very quickly learned is that this is a very isolating job and 2021 was a lonely time I turned 50 in 2021 that's probably one of the worst birthdays I've ever had spin it alone so I have a clear recollection of 20121 being lonely okay did Mr Wade ever come visit you at the condo the time period I'm talking about prior to November of 2021 When Miss y was at the condo so miss YY and me were we didn't share the condo at the same time so the answer would be no well we never stayed there together so it's an impossibility it's an impossibility yeah okay now miss so that Miss YY because we need to get clarification on this Miss y stayed in that place there may have been a time that me and Mr Wade visited like went sawon y but me and Miss YY never live there together just so we're clear well maybe that was clear but I'm going to have to try again okay was Miss YY still living in the condo when you moved in not a day okay so what I'm talking another misrepresentation in this we never lived together I I never lived with Miss YY my question though I'm trying to understand okay that after you moved in to the condo Miss yti had been she was out of the condo right she got a house uh that's all I'm asking she's not in the condo she is we never stay Miss YY and I never stay a day together in the condo all of her stuff was out of the condo and all my stuff some of my stuff not all of it obviously was moved into the condo so we never stayed there together no sir all right so when I asked you about Mr Wade visiting the condo when you were staying there yes M YY wasn't staying there correct correct that would be correct yes she wouldn't be at the condo correct no she would not have been it would be you and Mr Wade alone at the condo correct yes that is there weren't any other witnesses to Mr Wade and you at the condo correct yes no security none of your security detail object she said it was just her and Mr Wade you made your point Mr s let's move on to the next one yes your honor in the prosecution team prior to I guess the motion being filed by um defendant Ro Roman who in the prosecution team knew of your personal relationship and now I'm talking romantic with Mr Wade so sir I am extremely private all I ask is who knew it's not if the answer is no one knew that's fine I ask you who knew answer let me just tell and then explain this well us I am very private when I supervised Mr body and Mr McAfee they didn't know who I was dating but I can assure you I was dating somebody so that I kept something private that's my private life is not any mystery to anyone it's it's it's like a a woman doesn't have the right to keep her private life private and I'm speaking on this because there have been all these in intimations you just still answering the question m w I'm sorry what was the question in your honor is there anyone else who knew about about it and then you can explain I I don't know I don't think so I certainly didn't um go out telling my business to the world okay so the best of your recollection you didn't inform anyone on the prosecution team that the individual that you had chosen to lead the prosecution team had a personal relationship with you is that correct that's inaccurate your question is inaccurate what cuz you you stated that the person I chose we had a a personal relationship so we had a friendship we have to we have all these distinguishing factors remember when I chose him in November of 21 first of all let's get this straight Mr Wade was not actually my first choice that's no insult to him no no it is you because of the way you phrased the question you said when I chose him I didn't inform people of a personal relationship we have defined personal as romantic it is an inaccurate way to State the question and I will certainly restate it it is very accurate okay and please do not yell at me you hired Mr Wade for the first time on November 1st of 2021 correct of 2021 yes sir your testimony is whether one accepts it or not your testimony is that at the time you hired Mr Wade there had never been a romantic relationship with Mr Wade before you hire him correct correct yes my testimony is that we were very good friends but not we're talking about is sex so let's just don't no I'm not talking about I'm saying romantic relationship doesn't necessarily have to be just sex it can be dating it can be holding hands it can be any of those things that one might call romantic I'm asking you whether or not prior to November 1st of 2021 there was a romantic relationship with Mr Wade that's very simple it's either a yes or no I don't consider my relationship with him to be romantic before that I'm not a handh holder so no that's fine now let's move Beyond November 1st of 2020 2021 excuse me if I understand your testimony there was no romantic relationship with Mr Wade until early in 2022 whether it be January or February or March early in 2022 correct I will say sometime between February and April yes sir all right now I'm asking you about that time period when it became romantic okay thank you okay you didn't see the need if I understand to tell any of the people on the prosecution team when you had established a romantic relationship with Mr Wade that the lead prosecutor that is the people the man that was basically giving orders to others was dating or having a romantic relationship with you correct I'm going to object to relevance at this point Ron not relevance just to prove we're attempting to show that there is an issue on credibility about the relationship the failure to have informed anyone anyone on her team that she was having a romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor I suggest gives rise to that inference That's The Rance the inference that the inference that that they were concealing this because it was not as it's been characterized to the court and that in fact it started earlier than what they say all right overall Mr St down I just want to make sure that we're clear from at least 2020 me and Mr Wade were friends at least that time period okay I'm talking about so no no no I just I want to be clear because my credibility is being evaluated here right we were friends we hung out prior to November of 2021 in November of 2021 I hired him I do not consider our relationship to have become romantic until early of 2022 cuz I don't know what date and time I'm saying sometime between February and April of 2022 and very early April of 2022 cuz I know that trip that I discussed with you was like the first week of 2022 that the relationship had become romantic I hope that answered your question but I can't have it where you know we're saying something differently all right so you've established the timeline as you put it the question originally was uh at the time at that time did you tell any other prosecutors on the prosecution I never tell people at work who I'm dating all right Mr s okay did you take any trips to DC with Mr w never did you ever did you take okay so you have no what I would call personal trips or business trips to DC with Mr Wade I never went to DC with Mr Wade personal business otherwise never okay so I've never been in the District of Columbia with Mr Wade or Maryland Virginia the DMV as they called it so as I understand it to be clear any trips that you would have taken to see DC that that was a pretty clear answer huh that was a pretty clear answer ask she just said no twice so do you have a variation or something new to bring up I'll ask it and we'll see did you take trips to DC that were nonbusiness during the time period that this case or this matter was under investigation I'm going to object as the relevance as it relates to the matter that we're here before you're H well again the the question already ask is take personal or business trips she said but I but that was with Mr Wade that was with Mr Wade this I asked her alone whether she took okay what's the Rel and what would be the relevance of that trying to understand whether or not we we have an ability to show a personal trip in which Mr Wade is there at the same time I understand her answer okay I understand her answer but we have documents we have records that the documents things well this could be something that's maybe not part of the record yet but if he has a I think there have been other things discussed in this case and they have eviden that Mr Wade may have been in DC at the same time if you want to ask about that exact specific date Mr s you can do that I would reference to the court that that was not asked of Mr Wade anything about any trips to DC sure and so that's going to limit its uh Merit and impact and on credibility so Mr say I'll ask the question so I understand your testimony is you never took a trip to DC with Mr Wade that's correct personal or business that's correct were you ever in DC at the same time as Mr Wade on personal or business no me and Mr Wade have not been to DC at the same time however uh since Mr Wade has been on this case he's been to DC since Mr Wade has been on to this this case I've been to DC what has not happened is we have not been in the District of Columbia at the same time now the only thing I'm not sure about with what you asked me is have I been to DC personally cuz I got a lot of personal friends in that area but I know that I um have been to DC uh I did an interview at Howard University I went to DC for that seemed like I've been to DC one other time oh I went to DC for the global Summit actually yeah those were two separate trips my next question is based on her opening the door and therefore I'll just ask it and your honor can decide whether or not it's appropriate when you went to DC did you go to the White House I did not go to the White House no well apparently I'm going to get the answer anyhow there you have it next question okay you indicated your best recollection was that your relationship with Mr Wade the Romantic relationship uh ended um you left it at August of 2023 that sound right that's the hard conversation that's not the uh We've covered this next question and you char Ariz it as a tough conversation correct yes okay I'm not going to get into the conversation per se should well if he doesn't want to we won't go there so Mr SAR next question you know it's kind of hard to say no when you've got that opportunity all I'm going to say is it was it pre- indictment in this case so we know the timeline that the indictment was delivered and and so that were clear the physic relationship ended pre indictment and is that when you were talking about the tough conversation was the phys I'm not sure that the tough conversation didn't happen till after but the physical relationship so I'm sure if you ask Mr Wade because he's a male he would say we ended June or July cuz physical contact ended then just in my mind being a woman it's over when you have that like hard conversation that's I just think women and men think differently and I think the answer Mr s to your question was she's not sure whether it was before or after the indictment I'm not I'm not sure that that was her answer but but see if I can get specific that is what I said that's what I said I'll let you next question Mr if you need to clarify want to say one more what the Romantic relationship ended before the indictment was returned yes or no to a man yes to a man yes to you no she's explained this say down she's explained this and did the and the did the forthcoming indictment have anything to do with that or was it just a coincidence Mr let's go on and have the conversation I just ask you whether or not it was a coincidence had absolutely nothing to do with this it's interesting that we're here about this money Mr Wade is used to women that uh as he told me one time the only thing a woman can do for him is make him a sandwich we would have brutal arguments about the fact that I am your equal I don't need anything from a man a man is not a plan a man is a companion and so there was tension always in our relationship which is why I would give him his money back I don't need anybody to foot my bills the only man who's ever foot my bills completely is my daddy is there anything else you would like to add to that no sure sure we'll talk about it further no we're not going to talk about it further all right no back and forth Mr say down next question uh my next question is something that I would that has to do with the what I've characterized as the church speech let me just tell you what the question is because I know that's not preserve it for the record huh you can preserve the questions for the record but we then we'll move on that's correct thank you when you gave what I've referred to as the Martin Luther King weekend Church speech you know what I'm referring to a great great honor of mine that's a historic African-American church yes I do okay did you have handwritten notes with you that you were reading from during the speech and and on second thought Mr s because you might have a number of questions about this why don't we just bullet point what you would want to cover on this to reserve for the record and then we'll move on to the next topic okay since I had laid out before that the forensic misconduct isn't a subject do not get an answer for that that's okay uh did you read your speech well no Mr St for everything related to any friend oh you just want me to stay out of it now we're just not it's we can do it in a bullet form if you just want to cover what you would have asked but it's not in a question and answer format okay so I should do that at this point or do it sure when you're ready we can do it right now so it's I'm going to ask her about did she prepare the speech did she have notes on the speech did she read the speech um when did she do this when did she write the speech who was she referring to when she was talking about um others who was she referring to when she said they who she was referring to when she spoke in terms of their that is I would love to answer those questions well Miss Willis um you could certainly do that in some other format but for today that's uh what we decided we're not going to cover who was she talking about that was playing the race card and why she didn't tell the people at the church that she was that she had had a personal slash romantic relationship with the all due respect the way it was characterized the black man that she was referring to and was the black man she refer referring to was that Mr Wade that's that area of inquiry noted for the record Mr St down next topic okay I realize that you've testified that you have no records um that with regard to cash payments yes correct mhm would your bank records reflect that you withdrew cash from your bank accounts during the time period of 2020 2021 2022 or 2023 I'm not asking you I'm just asking whether they would reflect that you withdrew cash from any of your bank accounts so the exact amounts just did of course I withdrew money throughout that time period throughout my life I've I withdrawn money from the bank yes of course talking about cash from that is that you go to a bank or you go to an ATM and you take cash out either that way or you go to Publix and you overpay or you go to another store and you overpay so yes both through that yes of course they will reflect that at times okay and so those records if we had them would show that correct that throughout the course of my life I took money I I was very specific I said of that time period I would have taken money out yes so do you have a problem with re absolutely yes you don't want the bank records to be made available for the court and the court alone I'm going to object as to the relevance and this has already been addressed earlier as it relates to other records this is an improper line question questioning he's doing it the purpose of harassing I'm just going to sustain it on relevance Mr say that's something you want follow up privately oh you can do that okay last area briefly yes sir you had contact with Mr Wade in the year 2020 correct o um I had some contact with Mr Wade would you explain when you say some contact please tell us the talk about 2020 I had some contact with Mr Wade in 2020 um one of the reasons your allegations are so Preposterous or Miss Merchants that you have joined is ma'am I didn't ask you about the allegations I ask you about your contact it's all I ask you okay I appreciate that that you want to say something but I'm interested in did you have contacts with Mr Wade in 2020 and your answer so far has been yes correct very limited contact because um Mr Wade had a form of cancer that makes your allegations somewhat ridiculous I do appreciate the characterization I'm not going to emasculate a black man but I'm I'm just telling you I'm sorry what I'm not going to emasculate a black man did you understand that all right I don't think back TR Mr s down next question trying to your honor would you tell us on the occasions in 2020 that you add content with Mr Wade I'm sorry I thought I had answered that yes yes sir there were times in 2020 I had contact but 2020 was a year I was running for an office it was a year that he was going through some serious medical issues and I did not have much contact but I certainly had contact with him in 2020 did you go out to eat with him maybe probably did you did you visit him in any location his office or did he visit you in your office in 2020 I am sure he I'm sure that's a very good question I'm sure he came to 750 in 2020 750 is was my office okay um not often but maybe once or twice maybe I went to his office once or twice but maybe once and the purpose for going to his office would have been what maybe we would have went to Mellow Mushrooms for pizza or uh maybe he would have come for lunch I'm sure we went by each other's office though but not often not a lot we we both grinding try try try to make but I understand what you've said about the cancer and I'm not going into that but when you were going out with him to restaurants or when he would come to your office right those were not sterile environments were they oh very sterile because it was the restaurants were sterile environments a a lot of times we wouldn't eat there we would pick up something and go in but they were do you I'm list I'm listening to you you pick up and take it to where maybe eat at our office but it did not happen much that's what I'm trying to explain to you and my office in 2020 nobody was coming in I was Stir Crazy so I would still go into my office you remember when I started this I said I am not even sure if we came to each other's offices but I am trying to be over cautious so I think I can recall him at 75 50 a couple of times um I just think I can recall him at 750 once but let's say twice I have seen his office I remember all the awards in the lobby but I'm not sure in 2020 I I went I'm not even sure I went in 2020 at all I just want to tell you yes cuz I'm not sure but I I have a I have a distinct recollection of him at 750 I actually don't have a distinct recollection of me at his office in 2020 but maybe I went to his office in 2020 maybe did you have ongoing phone conversations during 2020 with Mr Wade oh yeah I talked to yes absolutely yes yes no question about that no question I talked to him on the phone in 2020 um I understood and this is I maybe I was confused the bise trip was for his 50th bir 50th birthday and that was in March he he turned 50 March 18th of 2023 if you look at the dates of the trip I think we were there about six days um we stayed at two different locations um and you paid for it 100% he said not only I mean I paid for the hotel I paid for the flights I had a birthday lunch in for him I paid for massages I paid for everything and would those payments be reflected on your credit card cash you PID them in cash cabs cabs I was telling you all the different things and I'm asking you whether or not those payments would be reflected on credit card bills of yours so there was about $500 that I think is reflected on a debit card I what my recollection is I took about four in cash with me to that 400 or 4,000 4,000 but I remember I handed him 2500 and then the rest was just the money we spent I probably gave $300 or $400 to uh this guy who was a taxi driver he would drive us every day around the two or three days we went took him to eat like it was my it was my trip money and you had to be clear to end this up the 4,000 that you've just told us but I didn't give it all to him remember I only gave the 2500 to him I didn't ask you that I was going to ask you that 4,000 is part of your my words cash horde that you had collected over time cash what h h o rde e well I thought you said something different sir no I'm afraid I wouldn't say that any circumstances to you or in back on track the hord cash hord I would not classify it in that way but I have money at my house yes sir and the money when you had money at your house when I and look I'm speaking too Loosely I had money wherever I was staying so I was not referring to my house in 750 I'm saying I had money wherever I was laying my head yes sir I that was my fault that I wasn't clear yeah so when you were at what we said the yti condo during the time period we've always discussed that's where you would keep your cash when I stayed there yes that's all I have thank you all right I want to see if we can get through a few more defense counsil possible for breaking for today Mr Stockton Madam district attorney I'm Alan stocks and I don't think we've had pleasure of meeting it's a pleasure to meet you sir um Madame da you described these various trips and uh Mr sadal asked you about going to Washington did you and Mr Wade go to New York I gone to New York um I've gone to New York twice um since I've been district attorney I'm trying to think of it's two or three times I went to do a domestic violence thing there for sure and I was honored and I went to to the Apollo there those are the only two trips that come to mind I went he was not with me you also said that he was a world traveler and been on many of the continents been to six have you been on any of those continents with him um besides this one uh where's Biz what continent is it I'm not being funny I don't know let's say with the exception of B with him I've been to the Bahamas with him I've been with fuba with him don't embarrass me I'm not sure continents those are on whatever continents those are that's where I've been I'm sure if I gave it some thought I would tell you but whatever continents those are that I've been to those locations sir but not Australia or any other continents I don't even want to go to Australia I do know he took a trip in December to Australia I have no idea you know I don't know anything about that Tri when Mr Wade began working with your office yes he had two other gentlemen that worked worked in his firm with him is that correct yes he uh Terrence Bradley worked for him and Chris Campbell worked not for him they worked with each other did you understand what their partnership Arrangement was I no did he M ever make you aware of how fees were divided or anything no now since you have been district attorney the two gentlemen that worked with Mr Wade and his firm they also had contracts with your office is that correct I've probably had I don't we already well I don't know if we've covered this in as Willis but I still don't know what the relevance would be of her testifying to this but I've had about 10 oh I'm sorry do you want me to answer let's figure this out judge respectfully I think based on Mr Wade's testimony he had an interest in those contracts sure and then but how's that been imputed to Miss Willis I I don't know if whether or not she knew she was giving him that benefit that's what I was trying to explore okay uh well maybe we can start with that question and then if she doesn't know about it then the ins and outs of all the contracts wouldn't be quite as relevant goes to lay a foundation for that though I see where go ahead the the two gentlemen that were in Mr Wade's office did they have what I think's been referred to as a taint contract so let me be clear and um I may get the names wrong when I first became da this the office was not properly staffed and so I did I'm surprised any lawyer would take it but I did a contract for like $60 an hour to help us out with first appearance that lasted a few months okay so I can't remember if Bradley or Campbell had that I'm sure we can have records and I can tell you which one but I just can't remember now um I like their experience one had been Bradley had been a probation officer and a defense attorney uh Campbell had been a police officer and a um defense attorney there's a reason I'm telling you this then um that that contract like I said it didn't last long it was just I was aggressively hiring hiring hiring hiring soon as I got where I felt like I had first appearance enough lawyers for that I let them go then we had what's called a filter contract but it was not filter for this particular case I do have a lawyer um who does the filter for this election interference case when we're talking about filter the contract they had that neither one of them has any longer um I now have another lawyer that does that for me it was only for police brutality cases it's for what I call the um so when I first got to be the da I had um the whole unit was called anti-corruption it dealt with both elections and police brutality cases I actually took a trip to Houston and visited the district attorney in Houston they divided their work up and I thought the way she was doing it was was better than me and so I I made a civil rights unit and so they did what we would classify as civil rights cases those are specifically the police brutality cases when I first took over I was told Paul had not filtered five cases that was a joke it ended up being the 101 cases they weren't filtered which is why I hired two of them eventually we got it down enough that it was one of them um and then um now I still have one lawyer that does it but now I've been able to cut those cases down to like 30 can you tell me the and help me understand what the purpose of the filter is yes sir so what a filter is is police officers make statements in the line of duty and you are not allowed as the prosecutor to know what those statements are if they're done in the furtherance of their employment and in fact if you know what those statements are you're basically disqualified from the case you can't have it anymore so what our policy is I think I pay him like a $50 flat fee they pick the case up directly from the gbi cuz that's where those cases go to and then what they are to do is to re go through the entire file so um the body cam the uh which is important because sometimes they'll make a statement to their supervisor on body cam in the police reports where they write things the if it would be easy if it was just some statement of the police officer but what you find out is these statements are embedded in it and so what your filter lawyer does is they go through it they either redact it out electronically or they cross it out and then once it is crossed out then they provide it to my team and then we're able to look at it um that was not being done appropriately when I became district attorney I thought that it had only been so Mr Howard had some Chinese wall thing that I didn't think worked at all uh where allegedly those cases were properly redacted that ended up being a joke um and so the five cases really turned into I'm not going to say all 101 but a vast majority that is the work that Mr Bradley and Mr Campbell did for me they did a really good job all of those cases that we originally came with they're done those cases are they're not just done for Mr Bradley and Mr Campbell they're done through my office but obviously life is not stagnant there have been new police cases um I do have a lawyer that is doing that work now doesn't work for me that's same kind of deal I have another lawyer that does filtering for this case completely separate so in the same private office you had a filter contract then you had somebody else having handling first appearances and so forth and then you had a special prosecutor is that correct I'm I'm just not ultimately the answer to your question is yes but I'm not sure that they did did it at the same time the first appearance contract was either $60 or $90 I don't know really how I convinced them to be able to take that but I think because it was for such a short amount of time and then I think I paid my filter lawyers which I still don't know how I get away with about 150 an hour and I want you to understand the AG pay special prosecutors $1,000 an hour so um I'm a tough negotiator Paul was paying people up to 375 an hour um I won't pay anyone more than 250 is my Max I have a lot of lawyers that a lot for what I have that work at 250 and I cap them every month you can't go p a certain amount of hours would you agree that if if Mr Wade and the two other gentlemen that were in his firm were splitting fees in equal thirds would you agree that he would benefit from the tank contract and also from the other first appearance contract I I would agree he would make money yes so to make money is a benefit just us thought got Mr jham you're still with us on Zoom no question Mr mcdou I do have a couple your it it's a little awkward from back here you want yeah want you go ahead and make your way up good afternoon M how you doing I'm very well how are you Mr McDougall I think this is our first in person meeting correct second second well I apologize for not remembering you more clear that's quite all right um I'm referring now to exhibit number 21 yes sir which was your financial disclosure form for 2022 yes sir and it has a question which requires you to disclose any gifts or favors from a single prohibited Source in the aggregate amount of $100 or more do you see that I don't but I believe you it would be on page two in the middle paragraph number three yes and what is your understanding of a prohibited source for purposes of this form I believe there's some classification of somebody you like don't have a personal relationship with that gives you $100 if right if you look under under there at sub paragraph 2 romanet 2 it defines it as someone that you know or should know is seeking to do or is doing business with the county correct yes but I yes let me yes that includes Mr Wade as of the date you filled out this form correct yes but he never gave me a gift of $100 or more um the only thing that I would say maybe went over that but I don't think it ever did is if we went to dinner and my meal was $100 but I don't think I've ever eaten $100 worth of food at a restaurant cuz I I would not pay him back if we went to lunch or went to dinner um um but trips I paid him back for you know I never thought about the money until y'all brought it up and I would be less than honest that says I was giving him the money back because I was the district attorney um I didn't take gifts from him for a lot of personal reasons anyway I did not take gifts from him and so your reason for not disclosing any gifts from Mr Wade on exhibit number 21 is that the aggregate amount on a net basis was less than $100 in the year 2022 is that correct I did not accept a gift of him of more than $100 in 2022 the one exception to that if you cuz I want us to be clear is we probably went out to eat multiple times in the year if you're considering eating a meal you know because we went out multiple times that probably went to the level of more than $100 but if if we're doing tit for tack like that I probably paid for as many meals as he paid for and so I did not receive any gifts from him the question on the form I understand the question aggregate in excess of $100 and your testimony is that you did not receive in the aggregate more than $100 all right Mr MCD you can sit down now I don't believe she answered that question your honor she answered as to specific individual gifts and you're not listening to my answer either so we're done very well okay Mr rice no further question Miss uh Mr Gillan good afternoon good afternoon sir um a few few questions here U I want to you saw the book here find me the votes that was shown to you correct yes sir I would like to just tender this as an exhibit uh number 22 is that your copy it is all right what exhibit is that going to be 22 all right I'm making the the uh the is that evidentiary contribution here um to this now well I you're tindering it is it with um position of the state that Obed to the relevance at this point hav there's no relevance at this point um Mr G you are using this to confront her with prior statements yes your honor and statements that she made concerning her concerning her financial situation and laying the foundation for that and that she gave these interviews uh to the authors and so this would document that and we ask her get this in the record to ask her questions about it uh we could mark it for impeachment purposes I'm a little wary of entering an entire 300 Page book because I don't know exactly what every single line if it would pass hearsay or relevance or etc etc but I don't think it needs to be admitted as a an actual evidence for the record for you to do what you need to do with it so well uh your honor I I understand I I just would it's Mark 22 and I'll let you we'll move from there uh thank you honor now you were asked a little bit about this broke before correct I think Mrs Mrs Merchant Miss Merchant did asked me some questions yes and and you gave about what about six interviews to the authors of this book in a sit down no sir you didn't uh was it she answered how many interviews she gave in her opinion how many in your opinion do you believe you gave and how long did they last two to three maybe 20 30 minutes so your testimony is at most you think you gave maybe an hour to an hour and a half's interview to the authors of this book Oh you mean in total in total yeah maybe yeah anywhere between definitely not more than two-ish hours okay but you also were telling when when there were the title of the book of course is a hard charging Georgia prosecutor a rogue president and the plot to steal American election you you've seen why is the title of the book relevant sir and I had in I'm going to ask her whether or not that was the the theme that they gave her her when they talked with her the thing gave her what what do you mean by that well because they were they were sat down and they told her why they were there to interview her and and why does that matter well I think it matters because it shows but the they they want her to give her version of what uh her life story this is a life almost a life story of her so that's why it's relevant but if if the court thinks it's not then no no it's it could be relevant to your issue of the forensic misconduct that has been alleged and maybe some of the the motives at play when it comes to forensic misconduct but I'm not seeing again what we're here for today was the relationship Andor any Financial elements of it correct well I think clearly relevant to the uh forensic misconduct also relevant to the personal interest in terms of the finances let me I didn't make 10 cent off that book pardon me I didn't make 10 cents off that book didn't ask whether you made any money okay I just uh didn't ask whether you made any money do you have any other statements that she hadn't already been confronted with by Miss Merchant well other than I want to to to focus on when you were telling them about your financial Straits and you're living kind of month-to month uh that is what your financial status was back in 2018 after your election Mr we covered that at length and I'm you're just you're at the end of the line I'm sorry about that but we got to find new ground well uh you know let me move on to to my point here so the point is that what you're telling us is that um you were uh in financial Straits but really that your testimony today is you had a cash hord of maybe up to $110,000 in cash where you laid your head at night so that you would dip out and there would be no record of it correct that's not what I'm telling you sir that's not that's not at all what I'm telling you what I'm telling you is that throughout the course of my life I have always kept cash in my house that cash has ranged from times you know my father will probably be ashamed of this cuz he would say it should be more but that time that cash at times has ranged from $500 to maybe $9,000 and he he would be like that is not what I told you to do um I've always had that amount of money what I've told you is that when I travel you do better negotiating when you travel if you have cash you can you go to get the cab they say oh we going to charge you 300 for the day well I got American cash will you take it for 150 and so it's my practice to take money when I travel we're not talking about a whole lot of money we're going to the Bahamas 1,500 in cash is in my pocket or at the most 2500 bise was actually probably the most money I've ever taken and it was taken because it was a big deal my 50th birthday sucked his 50th birth it sucked it was terrible no and so back to some questions here I'm trying to answer it it would if so let's move to the specific yes or NOS here have you told us today that you would keep uh a cash forward in your residence up to about $9,000 yes or no and in throughout the course of my adult life and so let's even be more specific than that probably from the time your honor I'm only asking for yes or no rather than and we have already covered this so I to that point I know you're laying the foundation but it's already been laid so the filibuster is here I'm trying to move through the filibuster yeah but but we're not talking about a lot of and so it's it could be 2,000 it could be500 it could be 7500 it just depends on how what you're doing at that time what I'm telling you is when I traveled I took cash I find that when you travel especially to foreign countries the American dollar does well and it's good to have cash you can negotiate with the taxi driver with the jet skis with the and it's not a lot of money we're talking about okay M let's get let's get to a question Mr and so you have cash in your house but you had a lean a tax lean on your property is that right I don't believe I had a tax lean on my property you didn't have a tax lean on your property you got you got to talk up a louder Mr okay we we already covered that Mr Gillan I need new ground here I'm asking the question I'm trying to figure out how someone can have uh have a tax Lane then ask that question but not use the money that they allegedly said they have well I think M Merchant asked that exact same question said she didn't use the money to pay your tax lean so what's your question is new so so I was going to build on that to say no more building it's already built all right it's the same way you pay a bill just just put top on it if you need to okay it's the same way you owe a bill and go shopping well uh now now have you ever used did you say earlier the used cash app I when I would pay Robin Bryan I used cash app what is Cash app for the record I don't need to know that for the record let's keep going well so if you're paying Robin with cash app why aren't you paying uh allegedly paying Mr there's no alleged here why aren't you paying allegedly Mr Wade with cash app I don't think Mr Wade does cash app did you ask him I think he's told me he doesn't do cash app okay so that's the reason why you didn't use cash app he's sitting next to me I hand him the money because there would be a record in cash app of your making payments correct yes but I didn't think that I was making a record in a personal relationship because when you're filing your and and I know that I'm going to move into this uh financial statement here you were asked just a second ago about your non-disclosure form or your excuse me your disclosure form of an exhibit 21 where um we agree that Mr Wade is a prohibited Source correct I don't I what I agree to is I don't believe he's given me gifts you you would like to classify these trips as gifts but I've always paid my fair share on these trips so I did not look at them as gifts I don't think that what this is disclosing and they can tell me if they mean something different I don't think it means that if you go to dinner with somebody over the course of a year and it gets to a 100 you're supposed to report it if my understanding of that is wrong um I've probably been to lunches with a couple of people that over the course of a year they paid I paid let me prohibited Source means we already over this Mr Gill Mr McDougall well you're on I have to I have to lay the foundation here before I can follow up with my next question I don't I don't know why you can't you have to it's the questions have been made then your two uh 2022 disclosure form did not list any of the thousands and thousands of dollars that Mr Wade uh paid for on trips that you were on isn't that correct that's because Mr Wade was paid that money back or he was paid uh due to the fact that I bought the plane ticket or I paid for the hotel there there were never money that he gave me that that wasn't the nature of our relationship you know there's so many men and Mr Wade is one of them where the nature of the relationship is they're just paying a woman the nature of our relationship is companionship and friendship despite the way people would like to paint certain women it's just not true final question and not a single solitary documentary piece of EV showing that you have withdrawn the cash to pay thank you Mr that's not accurate thank you okay Mr mol on behalf of Mr Floyd all right and Mr Cromwell on behalf of M Le great thing about the coming last most your questions I had one question m w can you hear me yes sir in the time period between February of 2021 and January of 2022 while you were staying at the Yi conduct did your father ever come and visit you during that time period at the Y cond he did not that's all I have thank you honor all right uh Miss Frost I would imagine you have a number of topics to cover with Miss Willis that'll take more than 10 to 15 minutes I do okay then I think we've reached a stopping point for today and so uh Miss Wills I'd ask you if you can step down now and I'd uh also remind you that you're not to discuss your testimony or uh that of any other the back here and we'll begin again at 9:00 a.m. 9 a.m. uh we'll do 9:00 a.m. this time tomorrow before we uh recess for today I want to check in on Logistics and uh I'll ask Miss Merchant um once the testimony of Miss Willis is concluded uh how many other Witnesses do you anticipate calling sted we can we can handle that now M you can set you can sit down you're done for the day you want me to leave the courtroom uh or you consider the council table we we don't Maj the witness box uh all right so two witnesses and then quering other defense counsel um I know uh Mr Gillan there was a potential witness that was objected to by the state so there's another one there and we can talk about that were there any other Witnesses anticipated from any defense Council all right seeing no show of hand
