Father of Fani Willis Testifies He ‘Trained’ Daughter to ‘Always Have Some Money’ After She Claimed to Repay Nathan Wade in Cash

Tom Pappert

Friday marked the second day of the disqualification hearing, seeking the dismissal of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she had appointed to oversee the case against former President Donald Trump.

John Clifford Floyd III, who is Willis’ father, specifically testified in support of the claim raised by Willis and Wade on Thursday, when both insisted the district attorney repaid the special prosecutor for luxurious vacations Wade’s credit card statements show he financed in unreported cash payments drawn from savings she keeps in her residence.

“It’s a black thing,” Floyd claimed in court.

He elaborated, “I was trained, and most black people, they hide cash, or they keep cash. I trained, you always keep some cash.”

Floyd (pictured above), a former Black Panther and attorney who Willis stated on Thursday is 80 years old, then claimed to have been the victim of discrimination in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in his youth and stated he was only able to pay a bill at a restaurant because he had cash.

CASE

“What I told my child from the time she was a child is always have some money,” Wade later stated. “So people don’t try to stick you.”

He continued, “Always keep some cash, okay?”

Under cross-examination, Floyd admitted he did not know his daughter and Wade were in a romantic relationship or that they traveled together.

“I knew she went out of town, but I did not know with whom,” Floyd confirmed before adding, “I did not know that they were dating.”

When asked if he conferenced with his daughter before his testimony, Floyd admitted, “She may have been present when the lawyers were, I really don’t remember.”

Defense counsel noted his admission that he conferenced with “lawyers” prior to his testimony, and Floyd later elaborated that he both watched video of the Thursday hearing and listened to pundits discuss it, in apparent violation of an order by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to avoid such materials.

“You can’t cut the TV on without seeing this,” stated Floyd. He added, “I listen to conservative radio a lot, and last night, for five hours, all they talked about was this case.”

Floyd explained, “Unless you don’t cut the radio on, unless you don’t cut the television on, unless you don’t read the [Atlanta Journal-Constitution],” then confirmed, “of course” he watched Thursday’s proceedings.

At one point, Floyd claimed he “knew COVID was coming before” health professionals sounded the alarm in 2020, declaring he was already taking health precautions and limiting his contact with the public in 2019. “I knew about it and knew what was happening in ’19,” he claimed.

The court then turned to Terrence Bradley, Wade’s former legal partner, who represented him during his divorce proceedings.

Citing his prior work on the divorce case, Bradley repeatedly raised attorney-client privilege but admitted to a lengthy text chain with Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney for Michael Roman, who originally raised the claims about Willis and Wade in a court filing.

Many of the texts were about Merchant’s uncovering of the affair between Wade and Willis, and some seemed to suggest Bradley was at one point cooperating with Merchant and helping her bolster the case.

Further questioning by Fulton County prosecutor Anna Cross ultimately prompted Terrence Bradley to admit allegations of sexual assault were levied against him at the law firm he operated with Wade, and Bradley further admitted the allegations prompted his decision to leave the firm. He also told the court that a significant amount of his money was left in an escrow account controlled by the firm, and Cross insinuated the funds were used to pay Bradley’s accuser.

Bradley’s testimony contradicted his earlier claims that his decision to leave the firm stemmed from a disagreement with Wade over how to handle the special prosecutor’s divorce, and the contradiction led McAfee to question Bradley’s claim of privilege as the former attorney for Wade in previous questions. McAfee ultimately decided to discontinue questioning Bradley until further questioning could be conducted outside of public view.

Separately, Bradley confirmed his credit card was used by Wade to book a trip on at least one occasion, contradicting Wade’s testimony on Thursday that he used his business credit card for “everything.”

Prior to his testimony, Bradley did not arrive at court until after noon, previously prompting McAfee to declare, “I think he’s in violation of subpoena.”

Though McAfee seemed content to end the hearing until he could conduct an in-camera review, which is sealed and not open to the public, Fulton County called another former associate of Wade and Bradley to testify.

Austin Davney, a lawyer who was formerly an associate at the Wade, Bradley, and Campbell firm, spoke for only a few minutes before McAfee shut down a question by Cross, who asked if Davney saw sexual assault by Bradley.

Steve Sadow, the attorney for former President Donald Trump, then questioned Davney about whether he saw Willis at their joint law offices.

“I may have recalled one instance when I saw her in passing” at the law firm, Davney admitted, before claiming he did not know who she went to visit and did not recall if she visited Wade. He also claimed not to know Willis and Wade were dating.

McAfee ended the hearing early, citing the need for in-camera review, but left the door open to continuing the hearing again should more witnesses surface.

It remains unclear when McAfee could make a decision about Willis. The filing that originally prompted the hearing sought for the charges against Roman to be dropped and for Willis to be barred from prosecuting the election case against Trump.

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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].

 

 

 

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