Georgia Republican lawmakers are ramping up pressure on the Atlanta prosecutor overseeing the election racketeering case against Donald Trump.
A new effort by state Sen. Greg Dolezal would create a special panel to investigate Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has faced allegations of impropriety after a co-defendant accused her of being in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the lead prosecutor in the case.
The measure, S.R. 465, would allow the panel to issue subpoenas and call witnesses to testify under oath.
“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,” said Dolezal, a Republican from Cumming. “We owe it to the public to ensure transparency, accountability and the preservation of the integrity of our justice system.”
Across the hall, House lawmakers will soon vote on H.B. 881, a bill that would revive an oversight board to discipline prosecutors. Gov. Brian Kemp signed a similar bill last year, but the effort was stymied after the state supreme court declined to review the new panel’s rules — essentially blocking it from conducting any business.
This year’s version, however, seeks to remove the court from the process. It also makes it more difficult to overturn any decisions made by the panel.
Democrats say that this challenges last year’s notion from the majority that the effort is nonpartisan. “It’s purely partisan now,” one said.
Gov. Kemp, who had emerged as an unlikely ally of DA Willis amid calls to oust her last year, joined a growing list of state Republican leaders who said that they were troubled by the new allegations.
But he seems to believe that this matter should be litigated in the courthouse, not the statehouse — which might not bode well for the special senate panel. He says that lawmakers would be better served by amending last year’s law.
“I’m focused on fixing the law we’ve got, and that’s the best way to go,” Kemp told WSB-TV.
“Having more politicians involved, I don’t know is the answer to that. I think Judge (Scott) McAfee and the other judges that are looking into that is the proper place for that.”
As for Willis, she scored a victory this week after a Cobb County judge said that she does not need to testify in Wade’s divorce hearings, at least not yet. Neither her name nor any suggestion of a romantic relationship with Wade appeared in recently-unsealed divorce filings.
But bank records submitted by Wade’s estranged wife found that he purchased round-trip tickets to San Francisco and Miami for himself and Willis. Judge McAfee has set a February hearing to examine all evidence.