Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis finds herself in more hot water over evidence of ethical violations regarding partisan collusion with the now-disbanded January 6 select committee to bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
Republicans on a House committee announced Monday that they are investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is prosecuting a case against former President Donald Trump, for interactions she had with the House Jan. 6 committee, which was disbanded last year.
A report released on Monday delved into depth regarding the information and evidence allegedly concealed by the Democrat-controlled House Jan. 6 select committee, but they also discovered that the Jan. 6 committee talked with Willis, a Democrat, before she filed her case against President Trump.
During its initial review of records archived by the Select Committee, the Subcommittee discovered a letter from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to the Select Committee dated December 17, 2021.273 In this letter, Willis requested access to any Select Committee records relevant to her investigation into President Trump’s actions to challenge the 2020 presidential election, including “recordings and transcripts of witness interviews and depositions, electronic and print records of communications, and records of travel.”
Based on public reporting, the Select Committee shared important records with Willis and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Select Committee provided “Fulton County prosecutors…key evidence about what former President Trump and his top advisers knew” with respect to Georgia’s 2020 election results.
Politico also reported that Fani Willis’ staff met with the Select Committee in April 2022 and participated in multiple phone calls with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. The same video recordings that the Fulton County District Attorney requested were never archived by the Select Committee.
Although no additional communications between the Select Committee and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office were archived by the Select Committee, the prospect of the Select Committee sharing video recordings of witness interviews with Willis but not this Subcommittee remains particularly concerning. The Subcommittee has opened an investigation into the extent of the coordination between Willis and the Select Committee and is committed to uncovering answers to these questions.
The Jan. 6 committee, chaired by former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), harshly criticized the former president and essentially blamed him for the breach at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Republicans and the former president claim the panel was politicized and overlooked key facts.
According to Monday’s report, the select committee shared information with Willis and her office, including allegations made against the former president and his aides about the 2020 Georgia election results.
Willis requested access to any Select Committee records relevant to her investigation into President Trump’s actions to challenge the 2020 presidential election, including “recordings and transcripts of witness interviews and depositions, electronic and print records of communications, and records of travel,” according to a letter she sent to the committee on December 17, 2021.
Apart from the House Administration Committee’s findings, other House Republicans have pressed Willis in recent months. Last month, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, stated that his staff had met with a “whistleblower” who had “raised concerns that Ms. Willis was not following the rules of grant dollars in an appropriate manner.”
Jordan issued a subpoena to Willis a few weeks ago to acquire documents linked to potential abuse of taxpayer funds in her case against President Trump and more than a dozen other co-defendants.
The letter stated that Willis was “required to produce the following items in your possession, custody, or control, from the period of September 1, 2020, to present in unredacted form.”
Previously, the district attorney’s office criticized House Republicans’ proposals as politically motivated. Last year, she stated that Congress had no constitutional authority to “interfere with a state criminal matter.”
President Trump has been hit with a series of charges in Georgia, with prosecutors accusing him of illegally seeking to sway the 2020 election outcome. The former president has pleaded not guilty, claiming the allegations are an effort to interfere in the 2024 election.
The entire January 6 report can be read below.
