Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, warned Atlanta-area District Attorney Fani Willis she could be held in contempt of Congress if she does not comply with a House subpoena related to her office’s use of a federal grant—a threat that comes as a judge is set to decide if Willis should be disqualified from her office’s criminal case against former President Donald Trump.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis listens during the final arguments in her ... [+]
Jordan wrote in a letter to Willis Thursday the House Judiciary Committee will “consider taking further action, such as the invocation of contempt of Congress proceedings” against the Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutor if she does not produce documents by March 28.
The committee initially subpoenaed Willis’ office in February following a report Willis fired a former employee who raised concerns that a portion of $488,000 in federal funds earmarked for an at-risk youth program were used to pay for “frivolous, unrelated expenses,” according to the subpoena.
Willis has denied the allegations, claiming they were lobbed by “a holdover employee from the previous administration who was terminated for cause,” while defending the at-risk youth programs as “highly effective” and “conducted in cooperation with the Department of Justice and in compliance with all Department of Justice requirements."
Jordan’s threat comes as Willis is under scrutiny for a separate matter in her office’s election subversion case against Trump—who is asking Judge Scott McAfee to disqualify her from the case over her romantic relationship with Special Counsel Nathan Wade.
McAfee is expected to decide whether to remove Willis or Wade from the case in the coming days.
McAfee dismissed three of the 13 charges against Trump in the Fulton County case on Wednesday and three other charges against his co-defendants, including former White House Chief of Staff and ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani. McAfee ruled that the six counts, all related to the defendants’ alleged efforts to pressure state officials to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election in Trump’s favor, “contain all the essential elements of the crimes” but fail to detail “the underlying felony solicited” from the state officials.
The House Judiciary Committee began investigating whether Willis’ case against Trump is “politically motivated” in August last year, and the probe was expanded to include the federal grant money after the allegations were made public in January. Separately, Willis has been under fire from Trump and his co-defendants over her relationship with Wade, who she hired in 2021 to work on the Trump case. Trump and his co-defendants allege Willis and Wade began their relationship prior to him joining the case and that she financially benefited from the hiring because Wade used the money to help pay for vacations for the two. Willis, in a series of high-profile court hearings related to the matter, has denied that the relationship started before she hired him as special prosecutor and claims the two split travel expenses, arguing the request to remove her has no legal merit.