According to a Friday, February 2nd report in NBC News, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has subpoenaed Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis. In the subpoena, Rep. Jordan demands documents from DA Willis’ office related to claims that she fired a whistleblower who tried to stop a member of her campaign from misusing federal funds.
As background, the Washington Free Beacon recently revealed an audio clip in which a member of Willis’ office, Amanda Timpson, informed her that a Willis campaign team member “wanted to do things with grants that were impossible, and I kept telling him, like, ‘We can’t do that.‘” Continuing, Timpson told Willis, “He told everybody … ‘We’re going to get MacBooks, we’re going to get swag, we’re going to use it for travel.’ I said, ‘You cannot do that, it’s a very, very specific grant.'”
Willis, in the clip, appeared to validate Timpson. However, less than two months after the incident, DA Willis appears to have fired Timpson, arguing that she was a holdover from the previous DA who was unable to fit in with the new culture of the office. The member of the Willis campaign strenuously denies the whistleblower allegations.
In any case, Rep. Jim Jordan subpoenaed DA Willis over the matter, which is part of a larger probe. That probe is one that he and other House Republicans have launched to determine if DA Willis impermissibly used federal funds in her investigation and RICO case against former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen members of his 2020 campaign and legal teams. Reporting on Rep. Jordan’s new demands, NBC News reported:
In a letter Friday, Jordan says Willis has failed to comply with two earlier requests for documents related to her office’s use of federal grant money. The subpoena calls on the district attorney’s office to provide documents and communications “referring or relating to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office’s receipt and use of federal funds” and “referring or relating to any allegations of the misuse of federal funds.”
Rep. Jordan then released the letter on X shortly after the NBC News report. In the letter, Rep. Jordan wrote, “On August 24, 2023, the Committee on the Judiciary wrote to you requesting documents in the custody of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office FCDAO) relating, in part, to its receipt and use of federal grant funds issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Since that date, we have sent two additional letters, on September 27, 2023, and December 5, 2023, reiterating our requests.* To date, you have failed to comply voluntarily with any of our requests.”
Continuing, he wrote, “The Committee’s oversight of your office’s use of federal grant funds is particularly relevant in light of public whistleblower allegations that it has misused federal funding. According to a recent report, your office unlawfully “planned to use part of a $488,000 federal grant earmarked for the creation of a Center of Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention”-to cover frivolous, unrelated expenses. DOJ awarded this grant to the FCDAO for the purpose of creating the “Fulton County Center of Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention [to] work with boys and girls ages 12-17….” The Center, through funding by the federal grant, was intended to “establish a community network .. in Fulton County[] to identify and address service gaps and barriers and create a comprehensive system of service for youth at risk of becoming gang involved or continuing in the gang lifestyle.”
He then added, “According to reporting about the whistleblower’s allegations, instead of using these federal grant funds for the intended purpose of helping at-risk youths, your office sought to use the grant funds to “get Macbooks,.. swag,.. [and] use it for travel.” Moreover, the whistleblower’s direct supervisor stated that these planned expenditures “were part of [your] vision.” The whistleblower has stated that she warned you that the use of the federal grant funds in this manner was “impossible” because the terms of the grant were “very, very specific.” The whistleblower was in charge of vetting, selecting, and securing [the FCDAO’s] grant partnerships” and was “the only contact” DOJ had with FCDAO. 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.” These allegations raise serious concerns about whether you were appropriately supervising the expenditure of federal grant funding allocated to your office and whether you took actions to conceal your office’s unlawful use of federal funds.”
Concluding, after reiterating past issues, he wrote, “In our prior letters, we requested several categories of material relevant for our oversight. However, in response to the recently disclosed whistleblower allegations and as an accommodation, we are prioritizing the production of documents concerning your office’s receipt and use of federal funds. Accordingly, please find attached a subpoena for the requested documents and information.”
Listen to the Fani Willis audio here:
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