According to recent reports from a financial review of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s office, it was determined that Willis engaged in “high-risk” practices relating to the use of federal and state funding. Willis has faced a number of accusations regarding financial impropriety as she has presided over the election interference case against former President Donald Trump.
Based on a report published earlier this month of the Fulton County Procurement Review, produced by the North Carolina accounting firm Cherry Bekaert, both the Fulton County District Attorney’s and the Fulton County District Attorney’s office had their respective spending and procurement rated as a “high-risk level.”
“We were informed that the use of prosecutorial discretion has sometimes moved past securing services such as expert witness testimony during the course of a trial, to items such as gun holsters for agents and office supplies and other items that likely could have been planned for and obtained through the Department of Purchasing,” the report stated.
The report’s findings follow months of controversy, such as the former special prosecutor on the case, Nathan Wade, who had a romantic relationship with Willis, who appointed him. It is reported that Wade, who has since resigned from the case, was paid roughly $700,000 for his work in the prosecution against Trump. There has been considerable speculation on whether the arrangement was a conflict of interest and if Willis benefited from it financially.
Willis has also been the subject of congressional scrutiny from the House Oversight Committee led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who is investigating whistleblower claims about Willis. However, the district attorney maintains that she is cooperating with all investigations and inquiries. “[W]e have already provided you with substantial information about our programs that are funded via federal grants,” she told Republican leaders earlier this year.
Willis slammed the investigations into her office’s conduct, suggesting they are “politically motivated,” stating that she would not halt their efforts to prosecute crime in the county to meet their demands. “Your primary complaint appears to be that we did not complete the production of your extension document demands (including five categories of documents over a four-year period) in less than two months. That demand is unreasonable and uncustomary and would require this government office to divert resources from our primary purpose of prosecuting crime,” she added.
“We will not shut down this office’s efforts to prosecute crimes — including gang activity, acts of violence and public corruption — to meet unreasonable deadlines in your politically motivated ‘investigation’ of this office,” Willis continued.
The Fulton County DA further emphasized that her efforts in the case against Trump will not be hindered in light of the Republican-led investigations. “[L]et me state this clearly: nothing that you do will derail the efforts of my staff and I to bring the election interference prosecution to trial so that a jury of Fulton County citizens can determine the guilt or innocence of the defendants,” she said. “My family, my staff and I have been threatened repeatedly by people making violent, often racist, attacks.”
Featured image credit: Featured image credit: Fani for DA Campaign site
"*" indicates required fields