Fani Willis has been listing the trips she made with Nathan Wade:

• The first was for a day in Tennessee in April 2022 to celebrate Wade's birthday - but she says calling this a vacation would be "a stretch"
• In October 2022, she flew down to Miami, Florida with Wade; they got on a cruise ship for a few days with his mother, then came back to Miami and went to Aruba together without Wade's mother for a couple of days
• On New Year's Eve 2022, they flew again to Miami and went on a cruise to the Bahamas, she says
• She then describes taking Wade to Belize for his 50th birthday, a trip that she claims was "100% on me"
• In May 2023, she says they went to the Napa Valley, in California
• She also describes three separate occasions, without providing the dates, of them driving somewhere and returning that day - once to South Carolina to meet her sister for lunch, another time to a little town in Georgia, and also once to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit one of her "close girl friends"

Merchant - the lawyer for Trump's co-defendant - just started to ask Willis why her office objected to the legal team accessing her Delta travel records.

Willis says she objected because Merchant has been "intrusive".

"You're confused. You think I'm on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020," she says, referring to the main case.

"I'm not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial."

For most of today, we weren't sure whether Willis was going to testify, as her team had initially resisted. But in a quick twist this afternoon, her legal team withdrew their request.

As a law professor who's in the courtroom described to us, Willis "barrelled her way in" and stood by her team, saying "I'm ready to go."

You can watch the moment below:

Willis reiterates that she keeps money in her house and she often reimbursed Wade in cash for payments he made for trips.

But she says she never handed Wade more than $2,500 in cash, which was "when we went to Belize".

She adds that she gave him $2,000 on a separate trip to Aruba.

"When I travel I always take cash," she adds.

Image source, EPA

We're going over Willis' finances now.

This is important to Michael Roman's legal team (who is Trump's co-defendant and bringing the complaint against Willis) because he alleges Willis benefited financially from her relationship with Wade, whom she hired. Roman claimed Wade paid for their travel expenses.

Willis vehemently objects to this. She says she reimbursed Wade in cash that she "kept in her house".

The money came from her "sweat and tears", she says.

She says growing up her father always advised her to keep cash on hand for an emergency.

"I would advise it to all women," Willis says.

Lawyer Ashleigh Merchant - representing Trump's co-defendant, who brought the case - is quizzing Willis about several of the vacations they took together, including a cruise she took with him and his mother in October 2022.

Willis says Wade booked it because he has several travel agents as a "world traveller".

But she says she would have reimbursed him.

"Just because he booked it - I don't consider him having taken me anyplace," she says.

"Whatever he told me it was, I gave him the money back."

The lawyers who are bringing this case against Willis are seeking to show that she and Wade financially benefited from the relationship.

You can watch the hearing too by pressing play at the top of this page.

Ashleigh Merchant - who is the lawyer for Trump's co-defendant who brought the complaint against Willis - is asking her when exactly her relationship with Wade began.

She gives a similar answer to Wade - early 2022, which is after Wade was hired.

She says she doesn't recall the specific day because "it's not like when you're in grade school when you send a little letter and it says 'will you be my girlfriend?'".

Willis is asked about the first vacation she went on with Nathan Wade.

She replies that it was in April 2022, but describes vacation as "a stretch".

She says they went to Tennessee for no more than a day, to mark his birthday, and they may have spent the night.

Fani Willis began her testimony this afternoon by saying she was "very anxious" to get in court and defend herself. Watch what she said here:

Willis is explaining why she had to leave a home she shared with her father to live with her former friend, Robin Bryant Yeartie, who testified earlier.

She says she was getting threats because of her "stance on gangs" - a reference to high-profile cases she has prosecuted during her time at the district attorney's office.

"My dad was begging me to leave the house" for her safety, Willis says.

Yeartie gave testimony earlier claiming that her relationship with Wade started well before Willis suggested, but Yeartie backed up claims that Willis lived there without Yeartie and Wade.

Fani Willis tells the court: "I very much want to be here."

She says that Robin Bryant Yeartie - who testified earlier - was an acquaintance during her college days but they lost contact until a chance encounter in Atlanta eight to 10 years ago.

"I've known her for 30 something years," she says, rebuking a question about whether they were friends.

"I certainly do not consider her a friend now," Willis says. "She betrayed our friendship."

Earlier, Bryant-Yeartie told the court the relationship began in 2019. Willis has said her and Wade's relationship started only after she hired him in late 2021.

Image source, Reuters

Tensions in the courtroom are high.

An attorney for one of Trump's co-defendants, Ashleigh Merchant, has accused Willis of being "hostile".

Willis says she is not a "hostile" witness.

Merchant appears to be getting frustrated with Willis for giving lengthy explanations.

Willis accuses Merchant of telling "one of her lies" about her relationship with Wade.

Willis describes meeting Nathan Wade in 2019.

Her voice shaky, she says: "It's offensive to suggest you slept with someone the first day you met them and I take exception to it."

“Is there something you didn’t understand?” Willis responds icily to Ashleigh Merchant, as she queries her.

Taking the stand, Willis appears to be visibly frustrated.

She tells Ashleigh Merchant - an attorney for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman who brought the complaint against Willis - that she had some "choice words" about the allegations her client raised.

"Wade is a southern gentleman - me not so much", she says.

Image source, Reuters

Willis has just been sworn in.

She says she knew to come to the courtroom when she heard Wade was done.

"I've been very anxious to have this conversation with you today, so I ran to the courtroom."

"I've been in my office pacing," she says.

Madeline Halpert
US reporter

Image source, Reuters

Willis' testimony will have a huge effect on the case, Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor with the Georgia State University College of Law says.

He's in the courtroom and says Willis "barrelled her way in" and stood by her team, saying "I'm ready to go."

The move is "a stunning turn of events that will make or break the entire case behind the motion", Kreis says.

"We often say courtrooms aren't like 'Law & Order', but that was as close to the stuff of fiction as you'll ever get."

We're taking a five-minute break before Willis begins her highly anticipated testimony.

Wearing a bright pink dress and looking forward with a straight face, Ms Willis asks for documents to review while she is questioned.

They're taking a five-minute break to copy them.

Image source, bbc

Fani Willis has just taken the stand.

Her lawyers just said they were withdrawing their motion to quash the subpoena to testify.

Attorneys from opposing teams are battling it out over whether Willis should testify.

Anna Cross, a lawyer for the district attorney, says there is no "compelling" reason, and that Wade has been consistent in his testimony.

A lawyer for Michael Roman - Trump's co-defendant who brought the complaint against Willis - identifies several questions he still wants answers on, including when the relationship began.

Another lawyer for a Trump co-defendant says he wants to know about the cash she used to reimburse Wade.

"We're talking about two people who went to extraordinary lengths to hide the nature of their relationship," the lawyer says. "The district attorney needs to take the stand."

We've got a bit more from Wade's testimony just now.

Trump co-accused Michael Roman's lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, sought to undermine Wade’s claim that he had been paid "significantly" less as Fulton County prosecutor than in private practice.

She pored over his business tax return for his law firm. She said in 2019 it recorded a payment of $184,000; in 2020, $230,000; in 2021, $236,000; in 2022, $262,000.

Merchant said in filings for 2022 and 2024, Wade said he had only $5,000 in cash.

Since being hired as a special prosecutor by Willis, Wade has made at least $653,880 from the district attorney’s office.