Fani T. Willis walked unaccompanied through the front door of a Fulton County courtroom on Thursday afternoon in a bright magenta dress and announced she was ready to testify. She was interrupting her lawyer, who at that very moment was trying to convince a judge that she should not have to testify at all.
“I’m going to go,” Ms. Willis said.
And so she did.
For roughly three hours on Thursday, Ms. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., engaged in the fight of her life from the witness stand to try to salvage the case of her life, the prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump.
In a raw performance, Ms. Willis, 52, presented herself as a woman in full — by turns combative and serene, focused and discursive (at one point she declared her preference for Grey Goose vodka over wine). Her language toggled between casual (a thousand dollars was “a G”) and precise: On numerous occasions, she prefaced her statements with variations on the phrase, “I want to be very clear.”
She upbraided Ashleigh Merchant, one of the defense lawyers questioning her, alleging that Ms. Merchant’s court filings — which accused Ms. Willis of having a disqualifying conflict of interest stemming from a romantic relationship with Nathan J. Wade, the special prosecutor on the case — were full of lies. At one point her voice approached a yell, prompting Scott McAfee, the mild-mannered judge, to call a five-minute recess in an apparent effort to cool things down.
transcript
Georgia Prosecutor Fani Willis Delivers Tense Testimony
The Fulton County district attorney, who is overseeing the state’s prosecution of Donald J. Trump, was combative and accused the defense of spreading lies.
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“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.” “Your office objected to us getting Delta records for flights that you may have taken when Mr. Wade.” “Well, no, 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. It’s interesting that we’re here about this money. Mr. Wade is used to women that, 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.” “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, because you’ve lied and this – Let me tell you which one you lied in. Right here. I think you lied right here. No, no, no, no. This is the truth. And it is a lie. It is a lie.” “Ms. Willis.” “Mr. Sadow, thank you. We’re going to take five minutes. Be back in five.”
Elsewhere, Ms. Willis chided Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Steven Sadow, when he asked if she had been in contact with Mr. Wade in 2020. Noting that Mr. Wade had cancer at the time, she said, “I am not going to emasculate a Black man.”