New Georgia Law Could Force Fani Willis To Testify Before Lawmakers Probing Her for Misconduct in Her Pursuit of Trump

A bill signed into law by Governor Kemp of Georgia could lead to the district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis, answering questions under oath about her racketeering prosecution of President Trump and 18 others. The star-crossed prosecution has been in limbo since Ms. Willis was disqualified from the case for a secret romance with her special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, a ruling that she is appealing to the Georgia supreme court. The Georgia court of appeals found that Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade’s conduct created a “significant appearance of impropriety.” Mr. Kemp signed Senate Bill 255 last week, the last day to add his John Hancock to legislation passed by the Peach State’s general assembly. One such bill, Senate Bill 244, could put Fulton County taxpayers on the hook — if Ms. Willis remains disqualified — for the millions of dollars in legal bills racked up by Mr. Trump and his array of co-defendants.Bill 255, which could extend the investigative powers of the Georgia legislature, could also present headaches for Ms. Willis. It was introduced by a Georgia lawmaker, Senator Bill Cowsert, in the midst of a protracted legal clash over Ms. Willis’s refusal to testify before a committee that Mr. Cowsert heads. That committee is investigating the district attorney for financial and ethical violations stemming from her prosecution of Mr. Trump.The new law provides that disputes over enforcement of subpoenas issued by state lawmakers are to be resolved by a local court, which can order those resisting a summons to “appear before the court to show cause why he or she should not be held in contempt for refusal to obey the subpoena. Failure to obey a subpoena may be punished by the court as contempt of court.”Stacey Abrams at Atlanta on November 8, 2022. AP/Ben GrayThe law also clarifies that the Georgia senate possess the “power to administer oaths” and to call “any party to testify under oath.” Mr. Cowsert is running to serve as Georgia’s attorney general, and declares in a statement that “DA Fani Willis, NY AG Letitia James, and other partisan prosecutors have undermined public confidence in the fairness of our criminal justice system. Their abuse of power is a threat to the rule of law.”Mr. Cowsert’s senate special committee first subpoenaed Ms. Willis last August. In December a trial judge, Shukura Ingram, ruled that lawmakers could summon the district attorney. Judge Ingram called Ms. Willis’s arguments to the contrary “deficient,” “absurd,” and conducive to “lost evidence, fading memories, and general inefficiency.” Mr. Kemp, while putting his imprimatur on Mr. Cowsert’s bill, also issued a warning in the form of an unusual signing statement. He wrote: “The General Assembly has a well-earned reputation for putting the business of legislating — and the people of Georgia — first. Americans of all political leanings have lamented the ineffectiveness of the United States Congress, in no small part due to the abundance of politically motivated ‘investigations’ which only generate sound bites and distract from important legislation.”Mr. Kemp announced earlier this month that he does not intend to run for United States Senate in 2026, when a Democrat, Senator Ossoff, is up for re-election. Mr. Ossoff is considered one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for re-election, and Mr. Kemp’s demurral has prompted some consternation from Republicans. The Wall Street Journal reports that President Trump personally interceded to convince Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene not to run for the Senate seat. Mr. Kemp, who did not support Mr. Trump’s challenge to the result of the 2020 election but has since reconciled with the 47th president, could be a future presidential contender. Bill 255 could be used against another prominent Georgian — a former state representative, Stacey Abrams, who twice lost to Mr. Kemp in gubernatorial races. Ms. Abrams’s work on voter registration is credited with handing Georgia to the Democrats in 2020, and she remains a lightning rod. Last month Mr. Cowsert and other state Republican lawmakers opened an investigation into Ms. Abrams and an organization she led, the New Georgia Project. The group has admitted to violations of campaign finance laws and has been fined $300,000. Mr. Cowsert also intends to probe whether the New Georgia Project improperly coordinated with Ms. Abrams’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign. The inquiry into Ms. Abrams will be undertaken by the same special committee on investigations that is pursuing Ms. Abrams, and the tribunal is empowered to “undertake such actions as may be necessary to enforce such subpoenas in cases of refusal to obey.”Ms. Abrams has also attracted attention from Republicans with national portfolios. The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, has vowed to investigate the allocation by the Biden administration of $2 billion to a coterie of groups, one of which is linked to Ms. Abrams. Mr. Zeldin explained on X that he has “terminated the $2 BILLION Biden EPA grant to this Stacey Abrams-linked NGO. The DOJ/FBI are investigating and the money has been frozen.”Ms. Willis has moved to quash the subpoenas issued by state Republicans even as she has also resisted a push by federal lawmakers — led by a Republican congressman, Jim Jordan — to compel her testimony with respect to what he calls the “receipt and use of federal grant funds.” Ms. Willis maintains that there is “no justification in the Constitution for Congress to interfere with a state criminal matter.”

New Georgia Law Could Force Fani Willis To Testify Before Lawmakers Probing Her for Misconduct in Her Pursuit of Trump

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