The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is perturbed.
The bad blood between Fulton County DA Fani Willis – publicly pugnacious prosecutorial paramour as well as pertinacious presidential pursuer – and Congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio reaches back to the beginning of last fall and has only gotten more caustic with the passage of time.
Jordan got off on the wrong foot with the feisty Fani when he sent the DA a letter shortly after the Trump indictments were handed up. Jordan said he wanted to hear more about “her motivations” for the legal moves.
On August 14, 2023, you brought a 41-count indictment against 19 defendants— including a former President of the United States and current declared candidate for that office, his attorneys, a former White House Chief of Staff, and a former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official—related to the 2020 election for President of the United States. Among other things, you have alleged that these 19 individuals, 30 unindicted co-conspirators, and others were part of a “criminal enterprise.”1 And you have identified a number of acts that you claim were committed in furtherance of this purported criminal enterprise, including: (1) the then-White House Chief of Staff asking a Member of Congress for the phone number of the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; (2) the then-President tweeting that hearings in the Georgia legislature were being aired on a news channel and commenting on those hearings; and (3) numerous acts taking place in other states not involving the conduct of the 2020 election in Georgia or the counting of the votes cast in Georgia. Your indictment and prosecution implicate substantial federal interests, and the circumstances surrounding your actions raise serious concerns about whether they are politically motivated.
WOOF
Didn’t she sass him back a good one in answer.
…In September, Willis sent a letter to Jordan accusing him of interfering in the state case and pushing “outrageous partisan misrepresentations.”
Less than a month later, Willis responded to a demand from Jordan by sending a letter that accused him of abusing his authority as Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary.
“A charitable explanation of your correspondence is that you are ignorant of the United States and Georgia Constitutions and codes. 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.”
It’s been downhill from there for Fani. As everyone knows, legal beagle extraordinaire Ashleigh Merchant, who happens to be the lawyer for one of Trump’s co-defendents, broke the whole sordid case of:
Fani and Nathan,
Sittin’ in a tree,
Spending Fulton County’s MUH-NEE.
As more and more sordid details of the love birds’ afternoon delights and exotic trysts on the taxpayers’ dime were brought to light, more and more critical eyes were focusing on the previously mundane records of the under-qualified, over-paid special prosecutor paramour, Nathan Wade.
Like, why was he at the White House? Who paid for that?”
In January, Jordan announced an investigation into the Fulton DA’s misuse of federal funds regarding Nathan Wade and requested records.
U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has announced an investigation into Fulton County Special Prosecutor Nathan J. Wade.
The committee, in a letter addressed to Wade, expresses its belief that he may “possess documents and information about the coordination of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office (FCDAO) with other politically motivated investigations and prosecutions, as well as the potential misuse of federal funds.”
Wade is accused in the letter of receiving a substantial amount of money from Fulton County, which he reportedly spent “extravagantly on lavish vacations” with his superior, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
FOX 5 spoke exclusively with Jordan about concerns that prosecutors comingled funds while investigating former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants. “You’re using federal funds to do this,” exclaimed Jordan. “They get $14.6 million in grant money.”
The usual stuff with a 26 January deadline.
…According to the letter, the Committee is requesting various documents, communications, credit card statements, individualized reimbursement requests, and all contracts and financial arrangements between Wade and the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office related to its investigation into former President Trump.
Jordan got a few dribs and drabs from Willis after asking nicely. So he fired off a subpoena for the material in the first week of February. This time, though, he also included information about an office whistleblower who’d been fired by Willis after objecting to misusing the funds and requested Willis appear before the committee at the end of the month.
…Jordan cites in the new letter to Willis a report from the Washington Free Beacon alleging that Willis fired an employee who tried to stop the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office from using a federal grant for the creation of a Center of Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention for travel, computers and “swag.”
“The whistleblower was in charge of ‘vetting, selecting, and securing [the FCDAO’s] grant partnerships’ and was ‘the only contact’ DOJ had with FCDA. Less than two months after receiving this warning, you “abruptly terminated [the whistleblower] and had her escorted out of her office by seven armed investigators,” Jordan wrote.
Willis has been asked to appear before the Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C. on the morning of Feb. 23 – a little more than a week after she is scheduled to appear before a Fulton County judge for a hearing on allegations she had an improper romantic relationship with Wade.
Willis blew him off again.
…In a statement to FOX 5, a spokesperson for the Fulton County District Attorney called Jordan’s claims “false allegations.”
The spokesperson said the ex-employee was a “holdover employee from the previous administration who was terminated for cause” and that any lawsuits over the firing were “baseless litigation.”
Today, the House Judiciary Committee chair sent Fani a notice of contempt. Jordan is done playing around and set a deadline.
…In the new letter to Willis, the committee acknowledges receipt of a “narrow set of documents” in response to the Feb. 2 subpoena but deemed the compliance to date as “deficient.”
The committee is demanding that Willis and her office provide all documents and communications related to the allegations of federal fund misuse, communications with the Justice Department, communications with Fulton County District Attorney’s Office employees regarding federal grants, grant applications and agreements, as well as grant performance measurement and progress reporting documents.
…Additionally, the letter emphasized that while Willis had requested the committee to “engage” with the Justice Department for the requested documents, her request did not absolve her of the legal obligation to comply with the committee’s subpoena.
The committee also rejected Willis’ claim that the subpoena was “overbroad and unduly burdensome.”
Willis was given a deadline of noon on March 28 to comply with the demands. Failure to do so, the committee warned, could result in further actions, including the invocation of contempt of Congress proceedings.
🚨 #BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan threatens to hold Fani Willis in contempt pic.twitter.com/2XLt3eOPYN
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) March 14, 2024
This isn’t the only pressure on Willis besides the obvious Wade disqualification sword hanging over her head (which should be resolved by tomorrow…?).
Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp just signed a new law very similar to Florida’s which gives the governor the power to censure and remove incompetent and rogue (read: Soros) district attorneys.
…On Wednesday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law that allows a state panel to begin acting with the authority to censure and dismiss prosecutors, which poses a threat to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ trial of former President Donald Trump.
“This legislation will help us ensure rogue and incompetent prosecutors are held accountable if they refuse to uphold the law,” Kemp said before signing the bill, flanked by Republican legislative leaders. “As we know all too well, crime has been on the rise across the country, and is especially prevalent in cities where prosecutors are giving criminals a free pass or failing to put them behind bars due to lack of professional conduct.”
Fani has to be sweating bullets.
Well, wait. Anyone else would be.
I’m not so sure she is.
Read the full article here
