Ancillary to that, I think that Merchant et al. are trying to establish that the behavior of Fani and Wade was a financial abuse of the DA’s office and Fulton County (trips paid for by Wade for himself and Fani were a form of graft—Fani overpaid Wade and he return the favor with gifts).
IMHO, the question here is that going after Trump represented a scheme to abuse the office in a way in which 680 thousand dollars could be awarded to a “special” counsel of the Fulton County DA’s office. The purpose of calling Barnes this morning was to show an experienced and seasoned counsel was not interested in this endeavor which cuts both ways. It makes the case an experienced lawyer who valued his reputation had NO interest in conducting this sham prosecution. It cuts for the DA in that it gives a reason why such an unqualified a lawyer was awarded the contract. The major point is that prosecuting Trump was the ONLY way in which Fani’s boy toy could EVER be awarded 680k of the taxpayer’s money.
That’s good.
He turned down the offer because, as he put it, he had to feed his law firm (i.e., the offer wasn't attractive financially). If Barnes had been offered $650,000, that would have fed the lawyers in his firm and then some.
IOW, I don't think Barnes (a very experienced and influential lawyer) was offered what Wade got, making the point that Wade was given preferential treatment because he was Fani's paramour and because he might return some of that sum to Fani (which he did).