Calif. winery says Fani Willis paid $400 cash, buttressing her claim in high-stakes hearing

An employee at a Napa Valley wine estate says Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis surprised him by paying $400 in cash after sampling wine with special prosecutor Nathan Wade in early 2023, supporting her high-stakes testimony about her penchant for using paper money.

Stan Brody, who hosted the pair at Acumen Wines in early 2023, told CNN that cash sales were rare, so it stood out when the Georgia prosecutor paid for two bottles and the wine-tasting with cash.

“I was expecting a credit card, quite frankly,” Mr. Brody told CNN on Monday. “And she says, ’I’ll pay cash.’ And so that was that. So then I just put the cash in, made change for her and she was very generous to me.”

Ms. Willis is fighting to stay on the sprawling election subversion case she brought against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants for their efforts to contest President Biden’s win in Georgia in 2020.

Defense attorneys say Ms. Willis financially benefited by hiring Mr. Wade as a special prosecutor and enjoying lavish trips and meals while he was being paid by taxpayers.

Ms. Willis’ cash habit was central to a hearing last week on whether Ms. Willis had a financial conflict and should be dismissed from the case. A judge’s ruling is pending.

The district attorney and Mr. Wade testified that Ms. Willis tended to split checks. When Mr. Wade paid for things, they said Ms. Willis would pay him back in cash, hoping to explain why there were no bank records of the transactions.

“You’re not keeping a ledger of things that you pay for versus the things that she’s paid for,” Mr. Wade said. “It was a point of contention because she was very emphatic and adamant about this independent, strong woman thing. So she demanded that she pay her own way.”

Defense attorneys hoping to dismiss Ms. Willis scoffed at the testimony, saying it amounted to an all-too-convenient way to explain the benefits Ms. Willis enjoyed, or to cover them up.

Ms. Willis insisted it was her standard practice. Her father, John Floyd, testified that he advised his daughter to have six months’ worth of cash on hand in case she needed it.

Allies of Ms. Willis will point to Mr. Brody’s account as additional support for Ms. Willis’ testimony. However, it is up to Judge Scott McAfee to determine whether the prosecutorial pair, who broke up in mid-2023, were being truthful from the witness stand.

Judge McAfee will review additional evidence in chambers and call back attorneys for closing arguments in the evidentiary hearing, which amounts to a mini-trial against Ms. Willis before Mr. Trump and others stand trial.

Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed to a Senate seat in 2020 but lost a special election runoff in January 2021, says Ms. Willis’ dismissal by the judge would be a “step in the right direction” but voters will have the final say when the D.A. runs for reelection.

“The Fulton judge might well remove Willis from Trump’s trial in the coming weeks. But it will be up to the voters of Georgia to remove her from the office of district attorney this November,” Ms. Loeffler wrote in an op-ed for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

An editor’s note said a special grand jury recommended indicting Ms. Loeffler related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but Ms. Willis opted not to charge her.

If Ms. Willis is disqualified, her whole office will be disqualified, and the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia will appoint a new prosecutor, according to Thomas P. Hogan, a visiting professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston.

He said a new prosecutor could be another sitting district attorney or the equivalent of a special prosecutor from government or private practice.

A disqualification could result in a big delay in Mr. Trump’s trial in Georgia while he campaigns for president. As it stands, no trial date is set.