Investigation of Fani Willis’ $2 Million Grant From the Biden Administration Lays Bare Democrats’ Coordination of Trump Prosecutions

An investigation by the Georgia state legislature into a no-bid grant doled out by the Biden Justice Department to the office of the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis, could provide fresh insight into the relationship between the prosecutor and Washington Democrats.The probe centers on a 2022 grant to the tune of two million dollars that Ms. Willis secured for her Office of Justice Programs’ Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative. Between 2021 and 2024 Main Justice, under the leadership of Attorney General Merrick Garland, directed some $18 million — a large sum for a single county — to Ms. Willis’s office. During that time period Ms. Willis brought a sprawling criminal racketeering case against President Trump and 18 other defendants. She accused him of a conspiracy to subvert the result of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The troubled case, though, was eventually dismissed after Ms. Willis was disqualified following the disclosure of a secret romance with her handpicked special prosecutor, Nathan Wade. In December of 2022 — some four months after Mr. Trump and his camarilla was charged — Ms. Willis wrote to a senior Department of Justice official, Scott Pestridge, that “I want to document your recognition of our progress and services provided with dynamic partners, as we complete sole source steps for our new grant award, a grant in which you invited us to apply.” The note, unearthed by Just the News, confirms that the application process was uncompetitive — “sole source” — and by invitation.A DOJ “fact sheet” explains that “sole source procurement is procurement through solicitation of a proposal from only one source … all sole source procurements require adequate written justification.” The probe into the grant is being led by a Republican Georgia state senator, Greg Dolezal, who belongs to a subcommittee whose remit involves investigating Ms. Willis. The documentation of the grant was obtained via extensive litigation under Georgia’s Open Records laws. In September, the Trump Administration issued its own subpoena to Ms. Willis, seeking her travel records around the time of the 2024 vote. While the scope of that investigation is unclear, Mr. Trump’s DOJ has made no secret of its intention to scrutinize the prosecutor — along with Mr. Smith and others who Mr. Trump and his aides accuse of illegally weaponizing the justice system against him. The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, was asked at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month whether Ms. Willis and Manhattan’s district attorney, Alvin Bragg, would face “justice. Mr. Blanche’s response: “Yes. When you talk about justice, we are working hard every day. And I don’t just say ‘working hard’ as a cliché. I mean the attorney general and myself, every day, seven days a week, are focused on bringing justice — and it will come.” Ms. Willis’s indictment of Mr. Trump was handed up days after Special Counsel Jack Smith charged him in federal court, also for election interference. The two indictments overlapped at points — both leaned on a phone call Mr. Trump made to Georgia’s secretary of state, Bradley Raffensperger, telling the official to “find 11,780 votes” in the Peach State. Mr. Wade’s billing invoices logged “travel to Athens; conf with White House counsel, May 23rd, 2022.”Another entry reads “Interview with D.C./White House, November 18th, 2022. Eight hours at $250. Cost $2,000.” Mr. Wade eventually earned some $700,000 from his work for Ms. Willis despite never having prosecuted a felony. While it is not unusual for federal and state prosecutors to communicate regarding overlapping prosecutions, Mr. Garland argued that his intention in appointing Mr. Smith was to distance President Biden from the political implications of prosecuting his predecessor. The admiration between Democrats in the District of Columbia and Ms. Willis appeared to run deep. Another document released as part of the open records litigation features an aide to Ms. Willis writing to a Democratic staffer on the House January 6 Committee that “Our initial review of the report confirms you all have accomplished amazing things in the past year.” Much of that tribunal’s investigative work made it into Mr. Smith’s indictment. In 2024 Congressman Jim Jordan demanded “documents and information about the coordination of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office (FCDAO) with other politically motivated investigations and the potential misuse of federal funds.” Ms. Willis refused to cooperate with that probe, asserting that it unconstitutionally intruded on state law enforcement prerogatives and violated the precepts of the Framers’ federalism.The $18 million that Ms. Willis secured from the Biden Administration is about the same sum as the $17 million that her office could soon have to pay under a new law that mandates that disqualified prosecutors are liable for legal bills if their charges are dismissed. Mr. Trump alone is requesting $6 million under the statute. Ms. Willis contends that it is unconstitutional and is challenging its application to her case.

Investigation of Fani Willis’ $2 Million Grant From the Biden Administration Lays Bare Democrats’ Coordination of Trump Prosecutions

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