Fani Willis takes the stand as she fights to stay on Trump criminal case

Prosecutor Fani Willis has taken the stand to fight to stay on Donald Trump’s criminal case amid misconduct claims.

The lawyer in charge of an election interference case against Donald Trump has angrily refuted claims that her secret affair with a colleague should disqualify her from prosecuting the former president.

While Mr Trump sat in a New York court to be told his trial over hush money paid to a porn star would begin on March 25, the election subversion case against him in Georgia exploded in a hearing over Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s alleged conflict of interest.

The extraordinary spectacle saw Ms Willis testify for several hours about her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a lawyer she hired to help spearhead the unprecedented case, after Mr Trump and his co-defendants claimed she profited from more than $US650,000 he was paid as they took a series of luxury holidays together.

Fulton County district attorney Fanni Willis testifies during a hearing into 'misconduct' allegations. Picture: AFP

Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade testifies during a hearing into 'misconduct' allegations against Georgia prosecutor Fanni Willis. Picture: AFP

Ms Willis attacked the “extremely offensive” allegations, claiming their relationship started after she hired him and eventually soured as he told her that “the only thing a woman can do for me is make me a sandwich”.

“These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020,” she said, referring to Mr Trump and the other defendants.

“I’m not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.”

Former US President Donald Trump arrives to speak to the press at Manhattan Criminal Court after a hearing in his case of paying hush money to cover up extramarital affairs. Picture: AFP

Adult film star Stormy Daniels. Picture: AFP

In New York, the former president’s bid to delay his first criminal trial failed, meaning he will spend six weeks in court while campaigning to return to the White House to answer charges of falsifying business records to cover up $US130,000 he paid to silence Stormy Daniels’s claim that they had an affair before the 2016 election.

“They want to keep me nice and busy so I can’t campaign so hard,” Mr Trump told reporters as he complained of “election interference”.

“Nobody’s ever seen anything like it in this country. It’s a disgrace.”

But in Georgia, his legal team succeeded in forcing the hearing into Ms Willis’s conduct.

She gave detailed evidence about how she kept thousands of dollars in cash at home, some of which she used to pay back Mr Wade for their trips because she did not “need anybody to foot my bills”. She also said she did not tell colleagues about their relationship.

“It’s like a woman doesn’t have the right to keep her private life private,” Ms Willis said.

However, the prosecutor’s intimate confessions could potentially have been avoided as Fulton County judge Scott McAfee earlier heard arguments over the relevance of her testimony, only for Ms Willis to burst into the courtroom and say: “I’m ready to go.”

Fulton County district attorney Fanni Willis. Picture: AFP

“It is a lie, it is a lie,” she later shouted while brandishing documents filed by Mr Trump’s co-defendants, forcing the judge to suspend the hearing.

At one point, Mr McAfee threatened to throw out her evidence as she defiantly sparred with lawyers over her relationship with Mr Wade, which Ms Willis’s long-term friend testified began two years before the prosecutors claimed.

Mr McAfee is yet to decide whether to disqualify the prosecutors in the Georgia case, one of four totalling 91 criminal charges that have embroiled Mr Trump, the runaway favourite to be the Republican candidate to challenge President Joe Biden this November.

Originally published as Fani Willis takes the stand as she fights to stay on Trump criminal case