The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis for documents related to alleged whistleblower complaints of misuse of federal grant funds by her office. The subpoena is the latest in a firestorm of scrutiny into Willis’ handling of the state’s investigation and indictment of former President Donald Trump.
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) cited Willis’ failure to comply with two previous voluntary requests for the materials as his justification for leveling a subpoena against the prosecutor. For months now, Jordan has been attempting to use his position in the Judiciary Committee to muddy the waters around Willis’ election interference case against the former president, accusing her of engaging in “election interference” and of unlawfully coordinating with the House Jan. 6 Committee. In September, Willis responded to one of Jordan’s requests with a scathing letter accusing him of attempting “to invoke congressional authority to intrude upon and interfere with an active criminal case in Georgia.”
The subpoena requests documents related to the Fulton County DA office’s use of public funds. Jordan’s letter references a Wednesday report published by the right-wing outlet The Free Beacon, which claimed Willis had fired a whistleblower who warned her about her office potentially misusing federal grant money. “These allegations raise serious concerns about whether you were appropriately supervising the expenditure of federal grant funding allocated to your office and whether you took actions to conceal your office’s unlawful use of federal funds,” Jordan wrote.
Jordan’s accusations of misconduct against Willis are not the only threat to the integrity of her office. In January, Trump co-defendant Mike Roman accused Willis of engaging in an improper romantic relationship with prosecutor Nathan Wade, who was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funds for his work on the case. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, House Republicans have been weighing expanding their probes into Willis to include the claims about her relationship with Wade.
The allegations could potentially result in Willis being forced off of the case, and undermine the years of work her office put into holding Trump and his allies accountable for their alleged meddling with Georgia’s 2020 election results.
Willis and Wade have not denied the relationship allegations Willis was subpoenaed last month for testimony in the divorce proceedings between Wade and his wife. Last week, the Republican-controlled Georgia Senate voted to authorize the creation of a special committee tasked with investigating the allegations that Willis misused state funds in hiring Wade while they were engaged in an alleged affair.
On Thursday, sources close to Willis told CNN that the prosecutor has no plans to step down or recuse herself, largely over concerns that her departure would essentially kill the case.
Both Willis and Wade have been subpoenaed to testify on the allegations, and are expected to be questioned at a hearing before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee on Feb. 15. Regardless of the outcome, as previously reported by Rolling Stone, Trumpworld is working overtime to exploit the accusations against Willis, and dig up oppo on Willis.
“Donald Trump wants more dirt on her,” one lawyer close to the former president said. “And it doesn’t hurt that this really could blow up Fani Willis, if the allegations are true.”
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
