More Bad News for Fani Willis as She’s Ordered To Testify Before Political Foes About Her Pursuit of Trump

The order that the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis, is required to appear before lawmakers in Georgia is more bad news for the besieged prosecutor attempting to bring President Trump to book for allegedly trying to tamper with the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Ms. Willis has already been purged from the racketeering case she brought against Trump and 18 others for election interference. The Georgia court of appeals found that “this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.”At issue was Ms. Willis’s secret romance with her handpicked special prosecutor, Nathan Wade. The judges also ruled that the rest of her office has “no authority to proceed” after her disqualification, which was justified by a “significant appearance of impropriety” generated by the affair. Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade deny that their romance predated his hiring, though a onetime roommate of Ms. Willis testified that it did. Now a judge at Fulton County, Shukura Ingram, has ruled that Ms. Willis has until January 13 to contest the subpoenas for documents and testimony from a subcommittee of the Georgia state senate that was convened to investigate allegations of “various forms of misconduct” on the part of Ms. Willis. The district attorney can argue that those requests are overbroad or otherwise touch on privileged documents.Ms. Willis’s attorney in the case, the erstwhile governor of the Peach State, Roy Barnes, the last Democrat to serve in that role, issued a statement saying that “the ruling is wrong and we will appeal.” The district attorney has already filed to the Georgia supreme court her intent to appeal her disqualification. The resolution creating the subcommittee — passed by Georgia’s Republican-controlled state senate — accuses Ms. Willis of perpetuating a “clear conflict of interest and a fraud upon the taxpayers.”At a press conference in May, Ms. Willis criticized the investigation as “unlawful.” Governor Barnes argues in a court filing that its requests are “overbroad and not reasonably tailored to a legitimate legislative need.” One GOP state senator, Greg Dolezal, ventures in a statement that Ms. Willis’s behavior “paints a disturbing picture of an office operating as though it is above the law.”Ms. Willis was first subpoenaed in August, but she refused to appear before a September session of the subcommittee. The Georgia senate’s legislative session ends on January 13, but Mr. Dolezal vows that he will renew the subcommittee’s charter. He is supported by the Peach State’s lieutenant governor, Burt Jones. In 2022 Ms. Willis was disqualified from investigating Mr. Jones for his role in Trump’s efforts to challenge the election results after it was disclosed that she supported his political opponent. Separately, Ms. Willis has been found to be in default of a freedom of information request brought under Georgia state law from a national conservative legal organization, Judicial Watch. That group seeks records relating to any communications between Ms. Willis and Special Counsel Jack Smith, as well as any documents relating to coordination between the district attorney and the House January 6 Committee. Ms. Willis denies colluding with Mr. Smith. The district attorney is also wrangling with federal lawmakers. Congressman Jim Jordan, who is the chairman of the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee, has requested Ms. Willis’s cooperation with two separate probes — into her use of federal funds and her alleged coordination with Mr. Smith and other actors in Attorney General Garland’s Department of Justice. The two have exchanged letters, with Ms. Willis telling the lawmaker that his “job description as a legislator does not include criminal law enforcement.”Ms. Willis, who handily won re-election last month at Fulton County, which comprises most of downtown Atlanta, could soon face a challenger from yet another quarter. Last month a new Peach State body, the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission, launched its website. Governor Kemp signed the commission into law — which could have been motivated by Ms. Willis’s pursuit of Trump — and it is empowered to “discipline, remove, and cause involuntary retirement of appointed or elected district attorneys.”In contrast to Governor DeSantis, who has suspended liberal prosecutors in the Sunshine State, Mr. Kemp, a staunch Republican who has a nuanced relationship with Trump, has so far demurred from testing his gubernatorial powers to target Ms. Willis directly. Instead, he appears to be waiting for appeals courts and the legislature to act first.Ms. Willis has been a fierce critic of the committee, accusing it of being born from racist motives. She told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow last spring: “All of a sudden, 14 minorities were elected to office to serve as district attorney. And now all of a sudden they need an oversight committee.”

More Bad News for Fani Willis as She’s Ordered To Testify Before Political Foes About Her Pursuit of Trump

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