Though Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has refused demands from Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to open an investigation into DA Fani Willis over her allegedly benefitting from an affair with the special prosecutor she appointed for the Trump case, Nathan Wade, Republicans in the Georgia Senate are set to authorize an investigation into her.
As background, Kemp refused Rep. Greene’s demands through a spokesperson. “The Congresswoman has every right to refer her complaint to the oversight commission once the legislative process concludes this session and the commission begins full operations. Just last year, the Georgia General Assembly laid out a specific oversight process for district attorneys that is transparent and unbiased, which the governor supported and signed into law,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson continued, noting, “These allegations are deeply troubling and evidence should be presented quickly. Georgians must have confidence in our legal system and its procedures, and these allegations — in addition to the lack of direct response from District Attorney Willis — jeopardize that confidence.”
In any case, Breitbart News has reported that the Georgia Senate is now going to probe the alleged corruption of DA Willis by authorizing a committee with subpoena powers to look into the situation. Breitbart News noted that the committee is significant because the oversight committee that Gov. Kemp argued is appropriate is currently non-operational.
The committee would, if authorized, be the only type of its kind in Georgia, Breitbart News reported, and be comprised of nine state senators, a third of whom will be Democrats. Further, it would be granted subpoena power to “secure the attendance of witnesses or the production of documents and materials” related to DA Willis.
Speaking to Breitbart News about the situation, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones of Georgia said, “The Georgia legislature has a responsibility to hold public officials accountable.” Continuing, he thanked the state senator who has taken point on the DA Willis issue, saying, “Recent reports have been deeply troubling and I appreciate Sen. Dolezal’s leadership on this issue.”
The resolution that state senator Dolezal put forward to create the committee describes the alleged relationship between DA Willis and Mr. Wade and notes that such a “relationship, if proven to exist, would constitute a clear conflict of interest and a fraud upon the taxpayers of Fulton County and the State of Georgia.”
Continuing, the resolution goes on to note that there appear to be more than sufficient grounds for “Willis’s recusal from further involvement in the prosecution,” and that those grounds for her recusal are problematic in that they “potentially [delay] it indefinitely and [require] the appointment of a special prosecutor at public expense.”
Then resolution then provides, “[T]he Georgia Senate has the inherent power and authority to conduct investigations into … the expenditure of public funds [and] the conduct of public officers who discharge powers and duties under state law.”
It adds, “[S]uch inherent powers include the authority to create special committees for the purpose of conducting investigations and to endow such committees with all the inherent powers of investigation possessed by the Georgia Senate, including the power to compel the appearance and testimony of witnesses and the production of records and the power to place witnesses under oath or affirmation.”
DA Willis, for her part, has denied culpability and pointed to race as being the reason for criticism of her. Giving a speech on the matter in a church, she said, “The Black man I chose has been a judge for more than 10 years, run[s] a private practice more than 20 [years]. Represented businesses in civil litigation … served a prosecutor, a criminal defense lawyer, special assistant attorney general.” She then said, “How come, God, the same Black man I hired was acceptable when a Republican in another country hired him and paid him twice the rate?”
Watch her here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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