Nathan Wade has just stepped down from the stand after hours of testimony.

Lawyers for Michael Roman, one of Trump's co-defendants, have asked to call Willis to the stand.

Lawyers for the district attorney are objecting.

Cross is asking Wade about the timeline of his relationship with Willis, and asks if he was dating the district attorney in 2020.

He says no, and explains that at the time, he had cancer, so he wasn't dating anybody and was taking extra precautions with the pandemic.

That meant he was avoiding "environments that weren't "sterile," he says. "I had health on my mind."

Special prosecutor Anna Cross, who is representing the Fulton County District Attorney Office, is now cross-examining Wade and they're going over his salary.

Cross notes that his salary appears to have decreased the year he began working on the election subversion case.

"Significantly," he says.

As they go over invoices from the years he worked on the case, Cross notes there was a cap on how much he could be paid each month.

"This invoice makes me cry," Wade says looking at one. "There are so many hours I worked that I couldn't get paid for."

A key moment from today's hearing has been when Robin Bryant-Yeartie, a former friend of Fani Willis, was asked about the relationship between Fani Willis and Nathan Wade.

She said she saw the pair hugging and kissing, and had "no doubt" the relationship started in 2019.

Willis and Wade have maintained the relationship began after Wade was appointed in late 2021.

Image source, EPA

Wade is now being quizzed by another attorney, Steve Sadow, who is former President Donald Trump’s lawyer. One of Trump's co-defendants brought this complaint against Willis, but Trump has joined it and this is the first time we've heard questioning from one of his team.

Sadow asks Wade about when his relationship with Willis began and who knew about it. He sticks to his earlier timeline.

Wade says his romantic relationship with Willis ended in the summer of 2023.

"We're very good friends," he says. "Probably closer than ever, because of these attacks."

He adds that his relationship with Willis was not "secret" but "private" - and he says he does not believe anyone on the district attorney's office knew about the relationship.

The attorney asks: "If you're dating someone, why keep it private?"

Wade says because of Willis' fame, he does not like to go on public outings with her.

"We don't want the world asking questions or interrupting that time," he says. "There's nothing secret or salacious about having a private life."

Craig Gillen, an attorney for David Schafer, a Trump co-defendant, has spent much of his questioning going over Wade's salary working for Fulton County.

Michael Roman, the Trump co-defendant who lodged the accusations against Willis and Wade, has claimed Wade was overpaid for his work and did not have the sufficient legal background for the job - in a bid to show that Wade benefited financially from the relationship.

At one point, Gillen accuses Wade of having billed for working 24 hours in a row. Wade objects, saying Gillen is reading the invoice wrong, and he's never worked 24 hours.

During the tense questioning, Wade has kept his calm, appearing polite and organized, as one might expect from an experienced attorney.

Madeline Halpert
US reporter

We've been talking to legal experts who have been telling us what they make of today's hearing - with one earlier saying it's been damaging for both Willis and Wade.

But Robert James, a former district attorney for neighbouring DeKalb County in Atlanta, says he does not believe the hearing suggests wrongdoing on Willis' part.

He says it only comes down to whether Willis financially benefited from the relationship, which he doesn't believe has been proven.

He says that the timeline of the relationship - which has been a focus of today's hearing - is ultimately irrelevant.

"All I've seen is that they were dating and they took some trips together," he says, adding it appears she refunded Wade.

"Nobody can read the judge's mind, but he doesn't seem that impressed," James says.

Image source, Reuters

Wade is now being questioned about the intricate details of his relationship with Willis.

Craig Gillen, an attorney for David Shafer - the former head of the Georgia Republican Party and a co-defendant in the Trump election subversion case - is doing the questioning.

He asks Wade about a paper in Wade's divorce filing, in which he claims to not have had sexual relations with anyone else during the course of his marriage.

There are objections to his question, to which the lawyer responds: "I’m not here to jump into some salacious bedroom situation," but adds the wording of the question is important.

The attorney then asks Wade if he had sexual relations with Willis before his divorce was finalised.

Wade implies that he doesn't believe he had sex with anyone else during the course of his marriage, because he said earlier his marriage was broken after his ex-wife had an affair in 2015.

An interview Willis gave back in 2020 when she was running for district attorney is coming back to haunt her.

Back then, she successfully stood for election to replace Paul Howard as top prosecutor in Fulton County.

In 2020, Howard admitted to ethics violations and paid a $6,500 fine. He had failed to disclose his role with two non-profits that paid him more than $200,000. Last year a jury cleared Howard of sexual harassment claims from a former employee.

During her 2020 campaign, Willis sought to draw an ethical contrast between herself and her election opponent.

In an interview with The Atlanta Voice, external, Willis said: "You're sitting with someone today that actually wants to make a difference because they deserve a DA that won't have sex with his employees, because they deserve a DA that won't put money in their own pocket."

She has already acknowledged having an affair with an attorney she hired.

And the very allegation she levelled against Howard - a financial conflict of interest - is now being directed at her by Trump co-defendant Michael Roman.

Nathan Wade is back at the stand after a 45-minute break.

Ashleigh Merchant - a lawyer for Michael Roman, one of Trump's co-defendants who made the allegations against Willis - was questioning him this morning.

Madeline Halpert
US reporter

Speaking to the BBC, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani agrees the hearing has been damaging for Willis and Wade, "personally and professionally".

"Yeartie's testimony has been particularly harmful and raises the possibility that Willis perjured herself when she declared under oath that their relationship started after Wade was hired," says Rahmani.

"Willis denied this, of course, but Yeartie is a friend and former colleague and has less of a reason to lie.

"Wade also took the stand, but his testimony that Willie reimbursed him for her share of the trips in cash wasn't persuasive.

"In total, this sideshow is embarrassing and a huge distraction from the actual case. Willis and Wade should both step down and have career prosecutors take over."

We still do not know if Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will take the stand today.

Judge McAfee said on Monday he would decide as the hearing was under way whether Wade and Willis would testify.

While Wade has been giving testimony, Willis was not present in court this morning because witnesses have been ordered to be sequestered.

Image source, EPA

After an intense three hours in court, we're taking a 45-minute break.

That means Nathan Wade gets a pause in his lengthy testimony.

He is ordered not to discuss it with anyone during the recess.

Madeline Halpert
US reporter

We're still hearing testimony from Nathan Wade.

Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for Michael Roman (who is co-accused with Trump), has spent much time picking apart his financial expenses.

She's asking about a trip and cruise Wade took to Aruba in the Caribbean with Willis in 2022.

Wade says he paid for the whole vacation - which his mother joined for part of - with his business credit card. Once again, he says, Willis reimbursed him with cash.

Wade is providing "strong testimony", says Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law.

Wade's claim that Willis paid him back in cash could be enough for the judge.

"Testimony is evidence," he says. "But it'll be up to Judge McAfee to assess."

Image source, EPA

Wade argues that Willis, the first female Fulton County district attorney, would have "paid her way" for trips because she's a "strong woman".

He says the two of them did not keep track of exactly who paid for what, because in a relationship, "you're not keeping a ledger of things".

Madeline Halpert
US reporter

Legal experts tell the BBC that the testimony we've heard so far today has been harmful for Willis.

In particular, testimony from Willis' former close friend that her relationship with Wade began earlier than they claim is "a really huge problem", says Andrew Fleischman, a defence attorney in Atlanta.

The hearing now becomes a he-said, she-said situation, putting the judge in an "awkward" position, Fleischman says.

Wade has been an excellent witness, he says, being polite and hard to pin down.

But the fact that Willis' friend, Robin Yeartie, had sought to avoid testimony, suggests that Willis' attorneys' attempts to portray her as a disgruntled former Fulton County employee seeking revenge, may be in vain.

Her testimony was "quite damaging", Fleischman says.

One of Trump co-accused Michael Roman's central arguments in trying to disqualify Willis is that she benefited financially from hiring Wade, her romantic partner.

He claims that the two took luxury holidays together paid for by Wade, including two cruises to the Bahamas, and trips to Napa Valley, California, and the Caribbean resorts of Aruba and Belize.

But Wade denies that. He says Willis split the cost of trips that he booked for the two of them.

Image source, EPA

Nathan Wade, the top prosecutor with whom Fani Willis became romantically involved, was called to the stand just after the testimony from Robin Yeartie.

During testimony, he said his relationship with Willis began in "around March" of 2022, after he was hired for the Fulton County Trump case.

Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for Trump co-accused Michael Roman, is attempting to pick apart that timeline, pressing Wade about whether he travelled with Willis in 2021.

She also attempted to show that Wade had made omissions on divorce documents when he did not include receipts for travel, restaurants and other expenses with romantic partners.

Wade insisted he had “no receipts” of any “gifts”.

Wade and his wife filed for divorce in 2021. He previously told divorce proceedings he did not have any affairs while he and his wife were together, the BBC's partner CBS News reports.

Much of Thursday's hearing has focused on the nitty gritty of Wade and Willis' relationship.

A Trump co-accused, Michael Roman, wants Ms Willis removed from the case, alleging an improper relationship and financial conflict of interest.

Robin Yeartie, a witness called by Roman's lawyers, has proved the most damaging to Willis' credibility.

She says there's "no doubt" Wade and Willis' relationship began before he was hired as a prosecutor on the Trump case.

That's important because Willis and Wade insist that the romantic relationship began only after she hired him.

Yeartie says she saw Willis and Wade "hugging, kissing" in the years before he was hired for the case.

Willis' team followed up by trying to portray Yeartie as a disgruntled former employee of the Fulton County District Attorney's Office.

A lawyer for Willis notes that Yeartie was forced to resign, and that her relationship with Willis fell apart after that.