Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, in a rare television interview with MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow, expressed her determination not to let threats and pressure from Republicans at the local, state and federal level prevent her from doing her job, which at the moment includes leading a high-profile case against former President Donald Trump.
With that Georgia criminal case having ground to a halt amid a Trump appeal, Willis explained the effect of having personal security measures in place for an extended period of time.
“It’s been happening since about a month after I took office—I began to get threats,” said Willis, whose term began in January 2021. Eventually, she said, the threats forced her to move out of her home.
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Willis explained that many of the threats “are racial in nature” due to “some recent cases”–a likely allusion to last summer’s RICO indictment of Trump and 18 of his allies.
“It’s a very interesting way to live, but it’s well worth it to have the honor of being the first female district attorney in Fulton County,” Willis said. “It pales in comparison to what my victims are going through.”
“And the reality is, one of the reasons we are upsetting people is we’re so successful here in Fulton County. I have the third largest crime drop in America. We have it because we’re taking a balanced approach; both unapologetically going after gangs and violent criminals and anyone who should violate the law in my county,” said Willis, who is campaigning for re-election and faces a Democratic primary on Tuesday. “And we’re also doing programs. It has been a huge sacrifice, but it’s well worth it for my community,” she added.
Maddow spent part of her opening monologue not only on threats against Willis, but on how Georgia Republicans are suddenly passing legislation to make it easier to remove prosecutors like Willis from cases. Maddow was also skeptical of special prosecutor Nathan Wade stepping down from the case because he and Fallis had dated, citing how the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that not even having married lawyers on opposing sides of litigation constituted a conflict of interest.
Later in the interview, Willis seemed to allude to Republicans’ efforts to help out Trump’s cause when she said they deserved pity.
“I can’t explain to you how much I love the work that I do. I can’t explain to you how loved I feel by my community. You really should feel sorry for those that are trying to deter me from my work. It doesn’t do anything but motivate me to continue to work and to work hard,” she said.
“And so I’m not someone that’s going to be broken. But certainly, it has caused me to get thicker skin or to be more resilient, to dig deeper, to work harder. But what it has not done is deter me from my work.”
