John Floyd III, the father of Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis, gave his own dramatic testimony a day after his daughter attacked defense attorneys on the witness stand, saying he never saw her “lover” Nathan Wade when he was with shared a house with her, and only met him after Wade was hired to join her team of prosecutors.
The bearded, bespectacled Floyd said he didn't know Willis and prosecutor Nathan Wade were together and only learned they were together a few weeks ago – in an evidentiary hearing where the timing of the relationship could determine whether Willis is excluded from the case.
He moved in with Willis in 2019 when he knew about her romantic life while she was living in her Atlanta-area home.
“She had a boyfriend when I got there,” who showed up every day or every other day.
“He was a disc jockey or something,” said Floyd, himself a former lawyer who practiced in Washington, D.C., and says he tried to retire in South Africa.
John Floyd III, father of Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis, testified that he lived with her while she was dating a man named “Deuce” and said he was unaware that his daughter later dated prosecutor Nathan Wade be together
The man had something with the keyboard…things that played music and so on.
“He was kind of a disc jockey. “I think he had a government job during the day,” he later explained. '
“He did weddings and so on and so forth,” Floyd added.
If lawyers for the defendants in the Donald Trump extortion case were hoping for crucial evidence from an intimate sighting of Willis and Wade, they didn't get it from their father.
They were trying to find out whether he had ever seen or met Wade at the house after explosive revelations were made in court about the “physical” relationship and when it began.
In response to questions from Trump lawyer Steven Sadow and other lawyers about his time there, he spoke repeatedly about threats he and Willis faced while living in the House while she was investigating Trump.
“The situation became so bad and the threats against me were so frequent that the house became virtually uninhabitable,” he said.
“My daughter had to move about four times,” he said.
He also made a statement that appeared to be consistent with her daughter's statement that she always made an effort to keep cash in the house and that he had instructed her to do so.
“Your honor, I’m not trying to be racist, okay,” Floyd told the judge.
“But it's a black thing, okay.” I was taught… Most black people have cash or keep cash. “I was taught that you always have some cash,” he said.
He said he “always kept cash” and “I told my daughter you always keep cash for six months.”
That appeared to support part of Willis' own testimony that she had kept up to $15,000 in cash in her home. She said she used it to compensate Wade for some of her travel – after a lawsuit was filed alleging she received a financial benefit by putting Wade on the prosecutor's payroll as a special prosecutor.
But under cross-examination, Floyd told attorney Ashleigh Merchant that he saw countless news reporters at his daughter's bombshell appearance on Thursday in which she testified about cash.
“You can’t turn on the TV without seeing that,” he said. He said he was not “segregated” from the media and noted that he did not appear under subpoena.
His dramatic appearance came after Willis' lawyers made a surprise announcement that they would not call her back to the witness stand on Friday following bombshell testimony about her “physical” relationship with a member of her prosecution team – in the latest dose of courtroom drama.
The move came hours after the state said in court it planned to bring prosecutors back for further questioning after she unexpectedly burst into the courtroom Thursday to tell her side of the story during an evidentiary hearing.
This led to a series of startling revelations in court about her “physical” relationship with one of her top prosecutors in the Donald Trump case and revelations about the storage of thousands in cash in her home.
“Actually, your honor, the state has no further questions for Ms. Willis,” Fulton County special prosecutor Anna Cross, who is representing the prosecution in the matter, said in court Friday.
The comment came as defense attorneys expected a second appearance, with one saying moments earlier that those gathered were still “in the middle of Miss Willis” and her testimony and the judge overseeing the case asking “if we have Ms. Willis.” “We could bring Willis back.”
Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis made a dramatic appearance in court as she discussed her “physical” relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade and testified that she reimbursed him for cash when they traveled together. Her attorney decided not to call her back for further testimony
Her surprise appearance on Thursday came after her former lover Nathan Wade came under fire for their “romantic” relationship, which he said began in 2022, shortly after she hired him as a special prosecutor.
One disappointed spectator was Trump himself, who had briefly been expected to appear in court on Thursday but instead chose to travel to New York to appear in court in the criminal case against Stormy Daniels.
“Does anyone really believe that Fani Willis paid her “lover” cash every time they went on expensive “trips” together? Really? Where did she get the CASH from? Pretty weak survey yesterday!!! “I guess they don’t want to offend,” he posted on his Truth Social website.
“There is no way she can explain away this corruption!!!”
The prosecutor's decision not to bring her back for a friendlier questioning suggests she accomplished some of what she needed to by Thursday, even as she fended off questions about her finances and love life. It also prevents a slew of defense attorneys from going against her again on the witness stand, where they would try to pry stories about her romance, office practices, credit card bills and cash refunds.
The stakes are high for Willis, Wade — and Trump — with the prospect of prosecution being withdrawn from Fulton County if an inappropriate relationship or conflict of interest is discovered that could impact prosecution. That, in turn, could stall Trump's process as he tries to return to the White House.
There were a number of fireworks displays in Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee's courtroom on Thursday. At one point he called for a five-minute break after Willis angrily attacked attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who exposed the affair in a lawsuit in which she accused Willis and Wade of an inappropriate relationship and called for them to be disqualified.
Attorney Ashleigh Merchant, lawyer for Donald Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, had expected Willis to return
The announcement by Cross (r.) surprised the lawyers
Prosecutors decided that the statements obtained from Willis were enough to challenge the disqualification – without risking giving defense attorneys another opportunity to question her. Here, Fulton County Special Prosecutor Anna Cross (left), representing the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, speaks with Attorney Andrew Evans, representing Fulton County Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade
Wade was asked by a Donald Trump lawyer about the origin of the money he said Willis gave him and whether Willis had simply taken cash from her purse. “I didn’t ask her,” he said
Attorney Steve Sadow and attorney Chris Anulewicz, representing defendant Robert Cheeley, speak during a break in a hearing in the State of Georgia's case against Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 15, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Sadow continued to push Willis when the relationship with Wade ended
During her appearance on Thursday, Willis erupted against Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman. Merchant questioned her about the origins of her relationship with Nathan Wade
“Pretty weak survey yesterday!!! “I guess they don't want to offend her,” former President Donald Trump said in response to the decision not to call Willis, even though his own lawyer did some of the questioning on Thursday
“Actually, your honor, the state has no further questions for Ms. Willis,” Fulton County special prosecutor Anna Cross said when asked to call Willis
She angrily denied having any conflict or deriving any financial benefit from the luxury trips she took with Wade. Like Wade, she testified that she paid him back her share in cash and that they took turns covering some entertainment expenses.
“I don't need anyone to pay my bills.” “The only man who will ever pay my bills in full is my father,” she once said.
“I’m not on trial,” she once complained.
She only alluded to her anger when discussing Merchant's request to remove her from the case and whether she had spoken to Wade about it.
“I don’t know if it was a conversation. As you know, Mr. Wade is a southern gentleman. “Not so much for me,” she told Merchant, who represents alleged Trump co-conspirator Michael Roman, on the witness stand.
'It is a lie. “That’s a lie,” she fumed as she dismissed the “insulting” suggestion she made to Wade immediately after a judicial conference in 2019 where she said she was introduced to him by a fellow judge.
She also rejected the idea that she had a sexual relationship with him in 2020 or 2021, citing his battle with cancer in 2020.
On Friday, her own lawyer, Anna Cross, will get the chance to question her after lawyers for Trump and other alleged co-conspirators in the Georgia election case were given the opportunity to turn the investigation into her own love life, financial transactions and livelihoods into the hands of the Top of the investigation to bring agreements.