A state lawmaker in Georgia filed legislation Monday to create a special panel to probe Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her effort to prosecute Donald Trump amid allegations of prosecutorial and professional misconduct.
Earlier this month, the local prosecutor was accused of hiring a man with whom she’d conducted a “clandestine” affair for a cushy special prosecutor gig. The man, Nathan Wade, is helping to oversee the Georgia case against Trump and a phalanx of his cronies after Willis charged them with racketeering last year.
Sen. Greg Dolezal (R), the Georgia Senate’s chief deputy whip, said in a statement that the committee was necessary given the gravity of the claims.
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“The multitude of accusations surrounding Ms. Willis, spanning from allegations of prosecutorial misconduct to questions about the use of public funds and accusations of an unprofessional relationship, underscores the urgency for a thorough and impartial examination,” he said.
“We owe it to the public to ensure transparency, accountability and the preservation of the integrity of our justice system.”
More than two dozen Republican state senators are co-sponsoring the resolution, Dolezal told Axios. “Enough to pass it,” he added.
State Sen. Jason Estevez (D) told local station WXIA that the measure “smacks of McCarthyism.”
“It’s certainly overreach,” he continued. “And I think the Republicans feel like this is some sort of payback or retribution for what Fani Willis has done” in the Trump case.
The special committee proposed by the senator would be made up of nine members, including three Democrats, and would have the power to subpoena evidence and people, compelling them to testify under oath. Though the U.S Congress routinely conducts investigations, it is comparatively rare for a state legislature to invoke the same power.
The allegations of an affair came out of left field at Willis in a Jan. 8 motion filed by a lawyer for Michael Roman, one of Trump’s co-defendants. The initial filing did not provide any proof of the relationship, though Roman’s lawyer later filed credit card statements showing that Wade had bought tickets to Miami and San Francisco for himself and Willis in recent years.
Roman’s lawyer claimed that she had gotten wind of the affair “outside of court filings,” and promised that sealed records from Wade’s ongoing divorce would substantiate her claims. On Monday, a judge unsealed the divorce case and ordered that a deposition for Willis, who had been subpoenaed in the matter, be stayed until after Wade gave testimony.
Willis had not responded to the allegations as of Tuesday. Her office previously promised that her response would come in a court filing.
