Three Republicans with Georgia Senate ties were on a slate of electors put forward by the GOP that cast ballots for Trump in 2020, despite the fact that Democrat Joe Biden won the state.

State Sen. Shawn Still, a Norcross Republican, and former state Senate President Pro Tem David Shafer, who was chairman of the GOP in 2020, were indicted in their role as electors. Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who was a senator at the time, also served as a Trump elector and was investigated but has not been indicted.

State Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Republican from Cumming who sponsored the resolution, said the Senate had the right to look into elected officials’ use of public money.

“This resolution is about an officer of the state of Georgia, within a subdivision of the state of Georgia, and how they are using state funds,” he said. “This falls squarely within what we should be talking about and what we should be addressing.”

An attorney for Wade’s estranged wife last week produced some of Wade’s credit card statements showing that he purchased airline tickets for himself and Willis for trips to San Francisco, Miami and Aruba in 2022 and 2023. Republicans have questioned whether Wade used the money paid to him by the county for his work as a special prosecutor to pay for the trips.

An attorney for Trump co-defendant Mike Roman made the allegations about Willis and Wade in a court filing earlier this month.

The Senate Special Committee on Investigations will have the ability to subpoena people and evidence, and require that testimony be given under oath. No other legislative committees require that witnesses testify under oath. Under the measure, if the committee finds there has been misconduct, it can recommend changes to the state law or budget.

“It is becoming more and more clear that this was prosecution for personal profit,” said state Sen. Brandon Beach, an Alpharetta Republican. “It’s my hope that this investigative committee will use its subpoena power and subpoena witnesses and records to explore if state funds were spent on these lavish trips and fine dining (restaurants). Did security details travel on these trips, and who paid for their expenses? Did Ms. Willis break any ethics law by not disclosing any gifts she received?”

But Democrats called the resolution “political theater,” saying it set a bad precedent and was an effort to distract from the criminal charges Trump is facing in four cases across the nation.

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

State Sen. David Lucas, a Macon Democrat, said the courts are already looking into the Willis accusations.

“We’ve got a system to deal with it,” he said. “But here we are (with) bedroom politics — allegations about somebody going somewhere, sleeping with somebody. ... Boy I’m telling you, y’all amaze me.”

The resolution is the latest attempt by Senate Republicans to investigate or discipline Willis. During the summer, Republican senators created a panel that was tasked with investigating overcrowding, a backlog of cases and dangerous conditions at the Fulton County Jail — though they said the subcommittee had nothing to do with politics or Willis.

Willis’ opponents have accused the district attorney of focusing too much attention on the Trump investigation instead of moving criminal cases through initial hearings that could ease overcrowding in the jail.

Last year, lawmakers created a Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission that was empowered to sanction prosecutors. The law was challenged in court, and the state Supreme Court said it had “grave doubts” about whether it had the constitutional authority to approve rules for the commission, a step required by the law. Committees in both the House and Senate have passed bills aiming to resolve the Supreme Court’s concern with the law.

The battle over the commission is being closely watched partly because Trump’s allies aim to use the law to punish Willis for seeking election interference charges against the former president and more than a dozen others.

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