The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee escalated its probe of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Tuesday with a request for documents linking her office’s investigation of Donald Trump to the congressional investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan’s demand is one of a series of requests he’s made as part of an effort to scrutinize Willis’ handling of the election-interference case against Trump and 14 other remaining defendants as he suggests she’s attempting to interfere with the 2024 vote.
“To the extent that your politically motivated prosecutions are now relying in any way on records obtained from the partisan January 6 Select Committee,” read the letter from Jordan, the committee’s chair, “it only reinforces concerns about your commitment to due process and whether you have fulfilled your obligations to properly disclose this material.”
Willis has blasted Jordan and other congressional Republicans, saying their attempts aim to “obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding and to advance outrageous misrepresentations.”
In a separate letter sent in October, Willis described a separate demand from Jordan as “ignorant of the United States and Georgia Constitutions and codes.”
The latest letter from Jordan, an Ohio Republican who is closely tied to Trump, also refers to “concerns about your commitment to due process” and “allegations in a high-profile prosecution that your office has been withholding materials” from defense attorneys.
A footnote invoked news coverage of the problem-plagued prosecution of the “Young Slime Life” gang, a trial that began last month after months of delays.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
The House Select Committee handed Fulton County prosecutors key evidence about what Trump and his top advisers knew as they pressed Georgia officials to overturn the 2020 election.
Some legal experts say the information could undermine a potential defense from Trump that he genuinely believed he was the winner of the election when he urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” nearly 12,000 votes.
The Jordan-led investigation is part of a broader effort by Trump’s allies to undermine Willis’ investigation. Top Republicans in the Georgia Senate have tried to use a new state law to reprimand Willis for bringing the case, while others launched an investigation into her handling of a backlog of cases.
Willis’ allies have accused Republicans of their own bout of political gamesmanship to try to punish the district attorney. And Willis recently told a Washington Post forum that the upcoming vote “does not go into the calculus.”
“What goes into the calculus is: This is the law. These are the facts,” Willis said. “And the facts show you violated the law. Then charges are brought.”
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