Georgia Democrats were caught off guard Monday during the first day of legislative session when state Senate Republicans voted to reopen their investigation into alleged misdeeds committed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis during her 2020 election interference case against Donald Trump.
Sen. Harold Jones, D-Augusta, said day one of the General Assembly’s annual 40-day lawmaking blitz is typically more procedural, but Monday’s start under the Gold Dome was anything but.
“This is different to where you have more of a substantive kind of matter,” Jones told Capital B Atlanta Monday evening. “It’s really something that we weren’t expecting.”
State senators voted 33-23 on Monday in favor of reauthorizing a Republican-led Special Committee on Investigations to revive its probe into Willis’ alleged misconduct.
Willis’ office hasn’t responded to a request for comment. The veteran DA has faced criticism for having a previous romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to pursue the election interference case against Trump and his accused co-conspirators.
Willis also has taken heat for devoting funds to prosecuting the Trump case instead of dedicating more resources to the backlog of criminal cases that Fulton County has experienced since the COVID-19 pandemic, when the county courthouse was shut down for an extended period.
Republican lawmakers have argued the allegations against Willis show the General Assembly needs to increase its oversight of county prosecutors throughout the state.
Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, the lead sponsor of the reauthorization bill, couldn’t be reached for comment. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday that the Senate’s panel “uncovered a set of facts that require us to continue our work.”
“We are focused on the potential enactment of new laws on a statewide application or a change in appropriations, and in order to do that we need to continue the work of this and that’s what this resolution does,” Dolezal added.
Democrats, including Jones, argue the added scrutiny of Willis is politically motivated retribution and an attempt to embarrass her publicly for pursuing the election interference case against Trump.
“It is a complete waste of time,” Jones said. “This is a Fulton County issue. If Fulton County wants to do something about it, let them have at it. But it’s not an issue for the state to necessarily be involved in.”
State Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain, pointed out more than 68% of voters in majority-Black Fulton County voted to reelect Willis after knowing about her and Wade’s highly publicized scandal.
“She is a whole different branch of government, and we are not her boss,” Mitchell said. “The voters essentially are. And the voters overwhelmingly reelected her.”
The Georgia Court of Appeals barred Willis and her office from the Trump case on Dec. 19 due to her and Wade’s prior relationship. Willis has asked the Georgia Supreme Court to throw out the appellate court’s ruling, arguing that the decision disregarded decades of legal precedent and “overreached the Court of Appeals’ authority.”
She previously declined to participate in a panel hearing regarding her alleged wrongdoing after receiving a pair of subpoenas, arguing the panel didn’t have the authority to subpoena her or a set of requested documents amassed during the Trump investigation.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram disagreed in December, issuing a ruling that Willis’ team has also appealed.
