ATLANTA — As she mapped out her strategy to disqualify Fani Willis from prosecuting Fulton County’s sweeping election interference case, defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant referred repeatedly to a witness whose testimony would prove the district attorney’s office wasn’t truthful.

Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee even referred to him as Merchant’s “star witness.”

But on Friday, Terrence Bradley took the stand and offered little to help. First, special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s former law partner was hours late to the hearing, leaving a roomful of prosecutors, attorneys and journalists waiting as he wrapped up a doctors appointment.

Then Bradley twisted as defense attorneys tried for upward of an hour to get him to describe what he saw between Willis and Wade, a friend who he once represented in his divorce case. Bradley contended repeatedly that attorney-client privilege severely limited what he could say on the witness stand.

At the end of the eight-hour hearing came a bombshell allegation of sexual assault that put his credibility on the line. McAfee’s assessment of Bradley’s credibility – and his knowledge of the Willis-Wade relationship – may yet influence the judge’s decision on whether to disqualify the DA.

After two days of emotional, combative and detailed testimony, the evidentiary hearing over whether Willis committed misconduct wrapped up Friday.

But the fate of one of the most important criminal prosecutions in the country – the racketeering case involving former President Donald Trump – remains unclear.

Defense attorneys seeking to disqualify Willis and Wade from the case spent Thursday and Friday exploring their romantic relationship and probing alleged financial incentives for the couple to prosecute the case. Their efforts uncovered some testimony that contradicted Willis and Wade’s version of events. But they did not conclusively show that the prosecutors had misled the court about their relationship or that they undertook the case to enrich themselves.

McAfee did not decide Friday whether to remove Willis and the entire Fulton DA’s office from the case – a decision that could fundamentally undermine the case against Trump and 14 other remaining defendants. Instead, he agreed to review some evidence that will be submitted under seal and will schedule another hearing as soon as next Friday.

That leaves Willis, Wade, the defendants and the entire case in limbo for at least another week.

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