Fulton County’s case against Donald Trump and his 2020 fake elector co-conspirators may be over, but the Georgia Republican Party’s examination of how District Attorney Fani Willis handled the case against the president appears to be ramping up.
Willis’ attorney, former Gov. Roy Barnes, told members of the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday that she will testify before a Georgia Senate Special Committee next week regarding the conduct of her office during its investigation into phone calls Trump made asking Republican officials to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
That hearing is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Dec. 17.
“We’re showing up,” Barnes told the panel of Supreme Court judges inside a packed courtroom Tuesday morning.
Willis’s attorney has argued previously that the special committee didn’t have the legal authority to force her to testify.
“They had no power to issue a subpoena after the General Assembly had adjourned,” Barnes told a judge a year ago, arguing the subcommittee was trying to embarrass Willis rather than pursue justice.
“This is not a legitimate legislative purpose,” he added. “This is a charade.”
The state Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday was convened to determine whether the special committee can force Willis to testify. Her attorney argued the subpoena is irrelevant since the case against Trump was dismissed in November.
Willis isn’t pushing back on a second subpoena issued earlier this year by the same committee after Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill into law in May that clarifies the state legislature’s investigative powers.
Those powers include lawmakers’ ability to subpoena witnesses, force people to testify, and execute oaths outside of Georgia’s annual 40-day legislative session. The state Supreme Court judges didn’t issue a ruling on that Tuesday.
State lawmakers have sought to subpoena Willis for more than a year to discuss her conduct during the Trump investigation. That conduct includes Willis’ romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the former deputy prosecutor, who resigned last March after a judge ruled he or Willis had to step away from the Trump case.
The committee members’ attorney, Josh Belinfante, said he will notify the court if Willis’ testimony next week satisfies his clients.
“Remember that we had dates before and it did not work out,” Belinfante told the Supreme Court on Tuesday. “We hope that it does.”
Willis’ attorney hasn’t responded to requests for comment from Capital B Atlanta.
The upcoming special committee hearing appears to be the latest move by Trump and his allies to go after Willis and other prosecutors who pursued civil and criminal cases against the president before his re-election.
In September, the Department of Justice subpoenaed records linked to Willis’ travel history around the time of the 2024 election.
This story has been updated to correct the name of the committee members’ attorney.
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