On Wednesday, January 24, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners met to approve its budget for the fiscal year of 2024. But, though the meeting was ostensibly about the budget, much of the meeting’s public comment period revolved around District Attorney Fani Willis. Willis, the Georgia DA behind the prosecution of Trump and more than a dozen of his associates on RICO charges, faces allegations that she misused public funds when she hired her lover to serve as a special prosecutor in the case.
As a result, many of the residents who spoke out during the meeting spoke against funding for the Office of District Attorney Fani Willis, as they were furious that the county funds used in her investigation into and case against former President Donald Trump had been used to pay her lover. That anger was likely exacerbated by allegations that she profited from the relationship.
Commissioner Bob Ellis was among those who is demanding accountability from DA Willis. He wrote a letter in which he demanded information on how she used funds and wrote, “These allegations involve your decision to appoint Nathan Wade to serve as a special prosecutor in the matter in which former President Trump is a co-defendant. Mr. Wade is alleged to (1) lack relevant prosecutorial experience in a case of this type and complexity, (2) have paid for your portion of multiple instances of joint leisure travel, and (3) be in a romantic relationship with you that was not disclosed to the court or to the parties in the case.”
Continuing, Ellis wrote, “Separate from any potential inquiry by the State of Georgia, this situation requires confirmation of whether County funds provided for the operation of your office and its prosecutorial function were used in an appropriate manner, and whether any payments of County funds to Mr. Wade were converted to your personal gain in the form of subsidized travel or other gifts.”
Describing his requests, Mr. Ellis said, “These were fairly straightforward requests which any elected official who is entrusted with public funds should supply that information back.” He added, “We’re talking about numbers, we’re talking about dollars, we’re talking about facts. We’re not talking partisan, we’re not talking race. We’re talking about the citizens’ money and whether it is being used in the way it was intended.”
Far more emphatically than Ellis, one resident who showed up to speak at the meeting said, “I’m done with the gross mismanagement of our taxpayer dollars by the Fulton County Democrats on this body. I’m disgusted at the information that is coming out of the district attorney’s office as a taxpayer. I am done with most of your silence at the DA’s apparent love affair with the special prosecutor and gross mismanagement of taxpayers’ dollars to pursue what appears to be a frivolous lawsuit based off of partisan politics.”
Then, humorously commenting on the lessons to be learned from the DA Willis scandal, he said, “Apparently guys like me need to court Fulton County female executives if we want to free wide at all paid expense. Up here, apparently, we need to pursue . . . Willis or maybe the executives and other departments if we want to full ride and full pay.”
That furious resident then went on to demand a massive investigation into the DA’s office to figure out how much money she spent on causes such as her relationship with Wade, saying, “I’m requesting a financial audit to be done by the county auditor of the district attorney’s office immediately. There is no way that you get more money when you’re spinning money allegedly for unnecessary and frivolous purposes.”
Watch him here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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