The district attorney of Fulton County, Fani Willis, came out swinging in a hearing about misconduct during her efforts to prosecute President Trump for election interference, insisting that state legislators leading the investigation should focus less on her romantic relationship with a subordinate and more on the number of times she has been referred to using racial slurs.  

Ms. Willis appeared Wednesday before a Georgia state senate committee — created in 2024 to investigate allegations of “various forms of misconduct” against her — to face questions about her relationship with Nathan Wade, the former lead prosecutor in her case against Mr. Trump. Ms. Willis’s relationship with Mr. Wade resulted in her disqualification from the prosecution. The case was assigned to another prosecutor in November, who dropped the charges.

One Republican senator, Greg Dolezal, asked Ms. Willis about how much Mr. Wade was paid for his work during the investigation, to which she fired back, “Why don’t you investigate how many times my house has been swatted?”

“Why don’t you investigate how many times they’ve called me the N-word?” she asked. “You all have been trying to intimidate me for five years, which is why I have not been able to live in my house for five years, because the N-word has been written on my house, and thousands of threats have come to my office.”

Asked how much money her office spent prosecuting the election interference case against Trump and others, Ms. Willis said she didn’t know. “Whatever it cost, they tried to steal the rights of thousands of Georgians. It couldn’t have been enough,” she said.

When asked about Mr. Wade’s travel and whether he met with Biden White House officials while a special grand jury was sworn in and received evidence in the election interference case, the district attorney criticized the lawmakers’ questions and insisted the purpose of the committee was to develop “rules and regulations around how people should be a prosecutor.”

“It makes sense to me that you’d come to the best prosecutor in the state to ask for some advice,” Ms. Willis said of her presence at the hearing. “But I’m confused as to how this assists you and what the purpose of me being here is.”

She criticized Mr. Dolezal and said she does not “trust him” and noted he is running for lieutenant governor in Georgia. 

An attorney representing Ms. Willis, Roy Barnes, also criticized the Republican senators on the panel and accused them of engaging in  a “witch hunt.”

He wrote, in an opening statement that he was not allowed to read, that the committee, created to investigate Ms. Willis’s relationship with Mr. Wade, will “put the district attorney at risk.”

“The attendant publicity will inflame those who believe there is a vast conspiracy against the President. I hope the political benefits you receive from this spectacle are worth it,” Mr. Barnes said. 

The state senate committee, which is made up of six Republicans and three Democrats, will release a report at the end of its investigation, but it lacks unilateral authority to impose any penalties on Ms. Willis.