Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis must comply with subpoenas for testimony and documents related to alleged fraud in the handling of the 2020 election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump, a Georgia judge ruled this week. The verdict was given.
Earlier this year, a special Georgia Senate committee investigated the 53-year-old prosecutor's alleged misuse of taxpayer funds and possible conflicts of interest in her romance with former Trump special counsel Nathan Wade. A subpoena was issued to Mr. Willis.
Willis was disbarred from Trump's case last week by the Georgia Court of Appeals, which ignored the committee's subpoena in September and said the committee had no authority to compel her to testify or hand over documents. insisted.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukla Ingram ruled Monday that Willis has until Jan. 13 to submit a list of the privileges he claims and a list of his objections to the task force's subpoena request. did.
Willis plans to appeal the ruling.
“We believe the ruling was wrong and we intend to appeal,” Roy Burns, a former Democratic Georgia governor who is representing Willis in the case, told The Associated Press.
Willis denounced the Republican-led investigation in a fiery press conference in May, calling it “illegal” and saying he would refuse to appear before the committee.
Burns argued in court filings that the commission's requests were “too broad and not reasonably tailored to legitimate legislative needs,” and that they were “not the legitimate subject of a legislative commission.” They are seeking confidential and privileged information, as well as personal and personal information.” According to the subpoena, AP.
He also argued that the subpoena should be invalidated because it was issued after the Legislature ended and violates the Georgia Constitution.
“The law is clear and the ruling confirms what we've known for a long time,” Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal said in a statement, according to the newspaper. fox news.
“Judge Ingram rejected all of Mr. Willis' arguments to avoid testifying to the committee under oath,” it added.
“We hope that Attorney Willis will honor the subpoena and provide documents and testimony to this committee.”
A Georgia legislative committee is investigating several allegations against Mr. Willis that led to Mr. Willis and Mr. Wade being removed from the Trump case. These include the prosecutor's office's decision to hire and pay a large sum of money to her ex-boyfriend as a special prosecutor in a major extortion case.
Wade is suspected of spending about $654,000 from his salary on lavish gifts and vacations with Willis, his boss at the time, and prosecutors in Atlanta are investigating how much money he received from taxpayer-funded hires. Questions have arisen as to whether he was making a profit.
