During a recent evidentiary hearing in an Atlanta courtroom, both Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade testified that their previously undisclosed romantic relationship didn't begin until after Willis had hired Wade in November 2021 to assist her prosecution of former President Donald Trump and others.

That claim appears to be substantially contradicted by an analysis of Wade's subpoenaed phone records, which seemed to indicate dozens of visits he made to Willis' apartment in the months before he was hired for the case, Fox News reported.

If the phone records analysis submitted with an affidavit is accepted by the court as accurate and true, it could be used to prove that both Willis and Wade committed perjury by lying on the stand while testifying under oath about when their now-admitted romantic relationship began.

Phone records contradict prior testimony

Allegations of impropriety and misconduct were first raised in January against DA Willis and SP Wade by one of former President Trump's co-defendants, Michael Roman, who accused Willis of improperly hiring Wade, with whom she was having a secret affair, and improperly benefiting financially from his use of the taxpayer funds he was paid to finance multiple romantic getaways.

When testifying during an evidentiary hearing earlier this month, both Willis and Wade insisted that their relationship didn't begin in earnest until after Wade had been hired, and both asserted that Wade had only visited Willis at her condo apartment about 10 times or less prior to his being hired, as well as that Wade had never spent the night at her residence.

Those claims are contradicted by an eight-page affidavit submitted to the court that contains the certified analysis of Wade's cellphone records by a criminal defense investigator named Charles Mittelstadt, who asserted that under penalty of perjury, the records show that Wade likely visited Willis at her condo at least 35 times before being hired, and stayed the night on at least two occasions.

Tracking Wade's travels via cell tower pings

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Mittelstadt revealed in the affidavit that he had subpoenaed Wade's AT&T cellphone records and then used a special analytics program known as CellHawk -- considered the "gold standard" in cellphone data analytics and widely used and accepted by courts and law enforcement across the nation -- to track Wade's comings and goings throughout the first 11 months of 2021.

Using the pings of Wade's phone off two cell towers near Willis' home, and matching that up with call and text records and other data, Mittelstadt asserted that there had been at least 2,000 phone calls and 10,000 texts between the couple as well as around 35 visits by Wade to her apartment.

The data further revealed at least two occasions, the first on Sept. 11, 2021, and the second on Nov. 29, 2021, in which Wade visited Willis at her home late in the evening and didn't return to his own residence until between 4 or 5 am the next morning.

Willis fires back with motion to exclude cellphone records from evidence

Of course, DA Willis was quick to register her opposition to that affidavit filed by former President Trump's defense team in support of their efforts to disqualify Willis and Wade from the case, if not have the criminal charges dropped altogether, because of the alleged and apparent conflicts of interest.

The DA filed a 48-page motion to urge the court to exclude the affidavit from evidence on account of her claims that it was improperly submitted and that the cellphone data analysis was inconclusive and unreliable.

Willis argued that the records "do not prove anything relevant" and raised doubts about the accuracy of the analysis by asserting that "The records do nothing more than demonstrate that Special Prosecutor Wade’s telephone was located somewhere within a densely populated multiple-mile radius where various residences, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other businesses are located."

If affidavit is accepted and proven, Willis and Wade could be charged with perjury for lying under oath

Fox News noted that presiding Judge Scott McAfee must now decide whether to accept the affidavit and the cellphone data analysis therein into evidence for the case.

AJC observed that if the affidavit is accepted and the defense attorneys can prove that Willis and Wade lied under oath about when, exactly, their previously undisclosed romantic relationship began, then Willis could be found in violation of Fulton County's anti-nepotism rules and both prosecutors could be found to have committed perjury on the stand.