Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor leading a 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his allies, may get subpoenaed as part of a state-level investigation.
State Sen. Bill Cowsert, a Republican leading the special committee investigating the DA, recently said a subpoena may be necessary if Willis does not accept an invitation to appear before the panel, according to local NBC affiliate WXIA-TV.
“She’s a key part of the investigation and her viewpoints are valued by us,” Cowsert said. “We need to hear what she has to say and her explanation and what she thinks the appropriate rules ought to be going forward so that we don’t have this kind of scandal giving Georgia a black eye in the future.”
The GOP-led special committee is probing the use of state funds arising from the controversy over Willis’s romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she hired for the 2020 election case. Upon its conclusion, the committee is expected to submit a report with recommendations.
In March, a judge allowed Willis to press forward with the case after the prosecutor, Nathan Wade, resigned. The other option was for Willis herself to step down. Willis has requested an appeals court uphold the ruling after the defense sought a review.
Before the Senate special panel held its third meeting on Friday to hear testimony from Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts and others, Willis criticized the GOP-led investigation while at a community event, saying, “Isn’t it interesting when we’ve got a bunch of African American DAs, now we need daddy to tell us what to do.”
Willis, who is black, is already facing a threat of being held in contempt of Congress over a subpoena seeking records after the Washington Free Beacon published audio of an employee telling her about the potential misuse of federal funds weeks before the worker was fired.
The DA has rejected suggestions of wrongdoing and, in response to House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), rejected the notion that she defied the subpoena while saying she was still providing documents.
Willis recently skipped a debate, leaving her challenger for the Democratic Party’s nomination in the DA race, attorney Christian Wise Smith, to face off against an empty podium. Her office declined the invitation, citing concerns about Willis being limited in what she could say regarding ongoing litigation. The primary is set for May 21.
As Trump seeks a second White House term, the former president has broadly denied wrongdoing across multiple cases, including the one led by Willis, and claimed that prosecutors are engaged in a politically motivated “witch hunt” against him.
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