Congress wants 4 Fulton DA officials to testify before Judiciary Committee

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The political and legal war between the GOP-controlled U.S. House Judiciary Committee and Democrat Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis took another turn Thursday when the committee sent letters to four of Willis’ colleagues requesting an appearance before the committee.

“The committee is continuing its oversight of politically motivated prosecutions by state and local officials,” wrote U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Barry Loudermilk (R-Georgia). “We believe you possess information related to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office political persecution of President Donald J. Trump and we request your voluntary cooperation with our inquiry.”

The letters were sent to Trina Swanson-Lucas, assistant chief investigator; Will Wooten, deputy district attorney in the major crimes division; Donald Wakeford, chief senior district attorney in the anti-corruption division and Michael Hill, assistant chief investigator in the major crimes division.

All four were requested to schedule an interview with the committee by 5 p.m. on Feb. 20, 2025.

>> READ THE LETTERS BELOW:

Jordan is chair of the powerful committee and has been at odds with Willis for more than a year over her historic indictment of Trump and more than a dozen of his GOP allies on charges they orchestrated an organized crime-like attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results.

Willis has already defied a subpoena from the committee to appear, and she and Jordan have exchanged a blistering series of letters and correspondences over her refusal to provide details about her Trump investigation to House Republicans.

In August 2021, Willis handed up a historic series of indictments against Trump, accusing him and 17 of his GOP allies — including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — of engaging in a criminal conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.

That election saw Joe Biden defeat Trump in Georgia by less than 17,000 votes. On his way to the White House, Biden became the first Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992 to carry Georgia or any other deep Southern state.

On August 24, 2023, when Trump was arrested and booked at the notorious Fulton County jail, Jordan sent a letter to Willis, demanding to know if she coordinated her investigation with the U.S. Justice Department. He also asked if Willis used any federal money in conducting her more-than-two-year investigation into the nation’s 45th president.

Weeks later, Willis sent a blistering reply to Jordan, telling the Ohio congressman he lacks “a basic understanding of the law, its practice, and the ethical obligations of attorneys generally and prosecutors specifically.”

Willis’ response apparently didn’t satisfy Jordan; on Sept. 27, 2023, Jordan sent another letter to Willis, and she responded with the same forcefulness as before.

“A charitable explanation of your correspondence is that you are ignorant of the United States and Georgia Constitutions and codes,” Willis wrote. “A more troubling explanation is that you are abusing your authority as Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary to attempt to obstruct and interfere with a Georgia criminal prosecution.

“As the person chosen by the citizens of Fulton County to be their District Attorney, I serve them, and my team and I are exceptionally busy,” Willis continnued. “We have already written a letter—which I have attached again for your reference—explaining why the legal positions you advance are meritless. Nothing you’ve said in your latest letter changes that fact.”

But a since-acknowledged romantic relationship between Willis and then-special prosecutor Nathan Wade threw the case into an entirely new political and judicial spectrum. Once Trump become the 47th president-elect, Willis — who was reelected in her own right on Election Day — and her prosecution was faced with even more uncertainty.

The Georgia Court of Appeals has already removed Willis from her role as prosecutor. That decision means it will be up to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to find another prosecutor to take over the case and decide whether to pursue it — though that could be delayed because a few hours after the decision was filed, Willis’ office filed a notice of intent to ask the Georgia Supreme Court to review the decision.

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