House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis have traded pointed correspondence for months, which didn’t appear to be especially productive. The Ohio Republican kept making dubious requests for information, and the Georgia prosecutor kept telling him to pound sand.
So, the right-wing congressman has apparently decided to take matters to the next level. NBC News reported:
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan has subpoenaed District Attorney Fani Willis of Fulton County, Georgia, demanding documents from her office following allegations that Willis fired a whistleblower who tried to stop a top campaign aide from misusing federal funds. … In a letter Friday, Jordan says Willis has failed to comply with two earlier requests for documents related to her office’s use of federal grant money.
At face value, that’s true. Willis really has failed to comply with his earlier requests. The problem, however, is that his earlier requests largely deserved to be ignored.
For those just joining us, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
After Willis indicted Donald Trump and a number of his associates in August, Jordan did what he always does: The far-right Ohioan launched an investigation into the investigation.
In fact, the GOP congressman didn’t just express dubious concerns to Willis, he also directed the local prosecutor to hand over a series of documents and related information.
It seemed quite possible that the Georgia district attorney might simply shrug her shoulders and put Jordan’s letter in the circular file, but Willis instead acknowledged the chairman’s initial deadline with a letter of her own, telling Jordan that his correspondence included “inaccurate information and misleading statements,” as part of an effort the district attorney characterized as improper interference in an ongoing criminal case.
Willis went on to tell the Judiciary Committee chairman, “Your letter makes clear that you lack a basic understanding of the law, its practice and the ethical obligations of attorneys generally and prosecutors specifically.”
Her pushback had the benefit of being true, but that didn’t stop him from sending another letter in late September, complaining about Willis’ “hostile response,” and demanding that she provide him with alleged documents that he thinks might exist.
So, the Fulton County district attorney’s tried again to set the record straight. “We have already written a letter — which I have attached again for your reference — explaining why the legal positions you advance are meritless,” she explained. “Nothing you’ve said in your latest letter changes that fact.”
It’s against this backdrop that Jordan responded to Willis’ latest letter with a subpoena.
Initially, Jordan seemed to be working under the assumption that there was some kind of conspiracy in which powerful law enforcement officials at the federal level were secretly pulling the strings, helping orchestrate anti-Trump prosecutions across multiple jurisdictions.
More recently, however, the committee chair has come to believe Willis might’ve misused federal funds and fired a whistleblower.
What will happen now? The House Judiciary Committee doesn’t have jurisdiction to insert itself into criminal prosecutions at the state and local level, a point the Fulton County prosecutor will no doubt emphasize if/when she takes Jordan’s subpoena to court.
That said, if the congressman can make a credible case that his panel is investigating possible misuse of federal resources, the matter might very well proceed. Watch this space.
Update: After this report was published, Willis responded to Jordan’s subpoena with a written statement that read:
“These false allegations are included in baseless litigation filed by a holdover employee from the prior administration who was terminated for cause. The courts that have found no merit in these claims. We expect the same result in any pending litigation.
“Any examination of the records of our grant programs will find that they are highly effective and conducted in cooperation with the Department of Justice and in compliance with all Department of Justice requirements. Our federal grant programs are focused on helping at-risk youth and seeking justice for sexual assault victims who were too long ignored. Our federal grant-funded Sexual Assault Kit Initiative has been cited by the United States Attorney General as a model program.
“We are proud of our grant programs and our partnership with the Department of Justice that makes Fulton County a safer, more just place.”
