In yet more bad news for Fulton Country District Attorney Fani Willis, calls for her to be arrested have grown out of the investigation into her potential abuse of power. Particularly, lawmakers and online commenters are fuming and furious over Fani’s decision to defy the subpoena order to testify about her case before the legislature, sending deputies instead.
As background, the probe into DA Willis’s conduct began in 2023. It was then that Governor Brian Kemp renewed a state commission in the state legislature that is charged with overseeing state prosecutors and using the power vested in it to remove those prosecutors from power who are found by the commission to have violated their oath to faithfully execute their duties.
Recently, the commission had issued a subpoena to DA Willis, demanding that she appear before it to testify on her case and the circumstances surrounding her election interference case against former President Donald Trump and over a dozen of his 2020 campaign and legal staff members. Instead of appearing and honoring the subpoena, she sent two deputies to ramble about the need for prosecutorial independence and deny that the case against Trump and his associates was politically motivated.
The commission that demanded she deliver sworn testimony is investigating, Newsweek reported, “allegations of misconduct…relating to potential conflicts of interest and misuse of public funds, to enact new or amend existing laws and/or change state appropriations to restore public confidence in the criminal justice system.”
Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, though in the national rather than state legislature, took to X (formerly Twitter) to sound off on what she sees Fani’s defiance of the subpoena as showing and to call for her to be arrested over the matter to show that she is not, whatever she might think, above the law of the land.
In her first tweet on the matter, MTG said, “Fani Willis thinks she is above the law, defying a subpoena from the Georgia State Senate today. Her defiance is absolutely unacceptable. There are very serious questions regarding various potential forms of misconduct. This investigation is all the more urgent considering her political persecution of the leading candidate for President. Fani Willis is NOT above the law.”
Then, in a second tweet, MTG posted, “Fani Willis should be arrested for ignoring her subpoena.” That came in response to a post from legal analyst Phil Holloway, who wrote, “So #FaniWillis will have a #YSL witness arrested for ignoring a subpoena, despite a medical issue and recent hospitalization, yet she will dodge a subpoena herself from a GA Senate Committee the same day…While she is in Washington DC doing a fundraiser for herself (why DC?)”
Similarly to MTG, Georgia State Representative Charlice Byrd called for Willis to be arrested for ignoring a “lawful subpoena” that demanded she appear before the state commission that is investigating her conduct, saying, “Fani Willis thinks she is above the law…Like anyone else who ignores a lawful subpoena, Fani Willis should be arrested.”
Other commenters on X, after Willis ignored the subpoena, said things like “Fani Willis just defied a Georgia state subpoena. Raise your hand if you think FUPA Fani should be arrested and disbarred. ✋” and “Raise your hand ✋ if you want Gov Kemp to issue an arrest warrant on Fani Willis for defying a court issued Subpoena 👇”
Similarly, another posted, “Fani Willis should be arrested for refusing to comply with a subpoena today. Democrats constantly say “Nobody is above the law”. What they mean to say is, “we will keep breaking the law and violating the rules as long as it means we get to GET TRUMP”. I sure hope Georgia Republicans push to hold Fani Willis accountable. The lack of outrage over hers skipping her subpoena as she continues to attack Donald Trump is an ABOMINATION. I know Congress has already left for their weekend vacation after taking a month long vacation, but people like Fani Willis need to be held accountable. We don’t have much time left. We are witnessing the collapse of our country.”
Watch Rep. Jordan speak about his investigation of DA Willis at CPAC 2024 here:
In Georgia, state law provides that defying a subpoena from the state legislature can result in contempt of court charges and a fine of up to $300 as well as 20 days in jail. However, DA Willis’s counsel, Democratic former Governor Ray Barnes, said Willis “will not appear until there has been a judicial determination of the validity of the subpoena.”
Featured image credit: Fani for DA campaign site
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