The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to appear before Congress this month over allegations she misused federal funds for “swag” — travel and new computers — and then fired a whistleblower who tried to stop her.
The subpoena, signed by Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, and reviewed Friday by The Washington Times, follows a whistleblower complaint accusing Ms. Willis of planning to use part of a $488,000 federal grant earmarked for the creation of a Center for Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention to cover “frivolous, unrelated expenses.”
The intended purchases included “swag,” trips and MacBook computers.
The House probe into Ms. Willis, who is separately prosecuting former President Donald Trump over alleged 2020 election interference, is the second investigation launched recently into her stewardship of the Fulton County District Attorney’s office.
Georgia officials are investigating claims Ms. Willis hired her boyfriend, divorce attorney Nathan Wade, to help prosecute Mr. Trump in the election interference case. Ms. Willis allegedly used her paramour’s salary from the county to fund trips and a cruise with the then-married Mr. Wade.
House lawmakers, meanwhile, say Ms. Willis refused three requests from the Judiciary Committee to voluntarily provide information and documents about how her office used the federal money intended for the youth center.
The subpoena summons her to appear before the Judiciary panel and provide the documents on Feb. 23.
Mr. Jordan, writing to Ms. Willis, accused her of firing the whistleblower in retaliation after the whistleblower, who managed federal grant money for the office, warned Ms. Willis that she could not use the money on expenditures outside of those related to creating the youth center.
“Less than two months after receiving this warning, you abruptly terminated [the whistleblower] and had her escorted out of her office by armed investigators,” Mr. Jordan wrote. “These allegations raise serious concerns about whether you were appropriately supervising the expenditure of federal grant funding allocated to your office and whether you took actions to conceal your office’s unlawful use of federal funds.”
In Georgia, state lawmakers have approved a special committee to investigate Ms. Willis over misconduct allegations involving her relationship to Mr. Wade, who is serving as special counsel in the election interference case.
Ms. Willis hired Mr. Wade after announcing in August a sprawling criminal indictment against Mr. Trump related to his actions to stop Georgia from certifying President Biden’s win following the 2020 election. Her indictment cited his tweets and phone calls to state officials urging them to reject Mr. Biden’s win due to suspected voter fraud.
Both Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade were subpoenaed to appear at a Feb. 15 hearing on behalf of Michael Roman, one of 19 co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case. Mr. Roman made the initial claim about their romantic relationship and is seeking to have his case dismissed based partly on allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.
Mr. Trump lost Georgia by 11,779 votes, and he says election irregularities were responsible for Mr. Biden’s victory in the state.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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