House GOP Threatens To Hold Fani Willis in Contempt for Failing To Turn Over Documents About Her ‘Politically Motivated’ Prosecution of Trump

Willis is already waiting for a judge to rule on the question of whether or not she will be disqualified from participating in her prosecution of the former president.

Alyssa Pointer/pool via AP
The Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, testifies February 15, 2024, at Atlanta. Alyssa Pointer/pool via AP

The House Judiciary Committee is threatening to hold the district attorney of Georgia’s Fulton County, Fani Willis, in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents related to her prosecution of President Trump and her work with the now-disbanded Select January 6 Committee. 

The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Congressman Jim Jordan, said in a letter Thursday that Ms. Willis is in violation of a lawful subpoena seeking documents and communications. In February, the panel issued a subpoena for all information related to Ms. Willis’s alleged misuse of federal funds. 

In a statement after the subpoena was issued, she called the investigation a farce. “These false allegations are included in baseless litigation filed by a holdover employee from the previous administration who was terminated for cause,” Ms. Willis said at the time, referring to allegations made by a former employee that she had misused taxpayer money. 

A former Fulton County district attorney’s office employee, Amanda Timpson, claims she was demoted after she tried to stop Ms. Willis from spending federal grant money meant for youth gang prevention on “swag” and travel. Ms. Timpson, who is Black, also says she was mocked in the office for her hairstyle.

Because the Fulton County prosecutor receives federal money, Mr. Jordan says he has every right to demand information and documents from her office. 

“While you have indicated that additional documents may be forthcoming in response to the Committee’s subpoena, the Committee has yet to receive any additional responsive materials in the three weeks since your initial response,” the Judiciary Committee said in a letter to Ms. Willis. “Accordingly, the Committee expects that you will produce all responsive documents to the subpoena in the categories prioritized by the Committee no later than 12:00 p.m. on March 28, 2024.”

The committee says that if its subpoena is not honored, the House will “consider taking further action, such as the invocation of contempt of Congress proceedings.”

In December, Mr. Jordan also launched an investigation into Ms. Willis’s professional relationship with her former lover, Nathan Wade, whom she hired to help her prosecute Mr. Trump. Both attorneys have been accused of misusing taxpayer money to go on lavish trips to California and the Caribbean. 

Ms. Willis has also been accused of coordinating with the Select Committee on January 6 for her prosecution of Mr. Trump.

“The Committee on the Judiciary continues to conduct oversight of politically motivated prosecutions by state and local officials,” Mr. Jordan said in a statement when he opened the investigation. “Based on recent reports, we believe that you possess documents and information about the coordination of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office (FCDAO) with other politically motivated investigations and prosecutions and the potential misuse of federal funds.”

Especially of interest to Mr. Jordan are the reports that Ms. Willis met with members of the January 6 Committee in the lead-up to her prosecution of Mr. Trump. Mr. Jordan says that the nearly $15 million in federal grant money that Ms. Willis’s office received over the course of three years could have been “commingled” with the efforts to launch a “politically motivated prosecution.”

“A recent news report corroborates your coordination with partisan Democrats, explaining that you and [your] staff ‘quietly met’ with the partisan January 6 Committee, which allowed you to review information they had gathered,” Mr. Jordan said in a letter. “Politico reported that the partisan January 6 Committee provided Ms. Willis’s prosecution a ‘boost’ as she prepared to convene a special grand jury and even ‘helped prosecutors prepare for interviews with key witnesses.’”


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