Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis came under the spotlight again on Friday.
A Georgia state senate Special Committee held its third hearing looking into allegations of potential conflicts of interest and potential misuse of public funds by her. The Committee was formed after the multiple scandals that broke over Willis’ relationship with her special prosecutor in the Trump election case Nathan Wade.
Advertisement
Among the things they have been looking into payments in regard to Nathan Wade with whom she admitted she had a relationship. The senators grilled financial officers on Friday about the use of the funds.
Republican Sen. Bill Cowsert asked financial officers about numerous “enhancement requests” for extra money Willis has made, including one for roughly a million dollars in 2023 for general trial expenses.
Fulton County Chief Financial Officer Sharon Whittmore said the amount was made as a “lump sum, not specific with line item details,” to explain what it would be used for,according to the Washington Examiner.
Cowsert said he was trying to “get a feeling for exactly how much oversight,” there was in the office, adding it “sounds like it’s very loose as far as employment practices and expenditures for independent contractors.”
Cowsert also criticized her for spending on going after former President Donald Trump, when there was a backlog of real criminal cases that she needed to address. He said they likely would be calling her.
“She’s a key part of the investigation and her viewpoints are valued by us. We need to hear what she has to say and her explanation and what she thinks the appropriate rules ought to be going forward so that we don’t have this kind of scandal giving Georgia a black eye in the future,” said Cowsert.
Advertisement
Cowsert said they would subpoena her, if necessary, if she did not comply with their request.
Willis did not attend the hearing but responded, claiming, “They can look all they want. The DA’s office has done everything according to the books.”
“Isn’t it interesting when we’ve got a bunch of African American DAs, now we need daddy to tell us what to do,” Willis also said while in attendance at a community event on Friday.
I’m just going to guess that the judge in the Trump election case is not going to be happy with that comment, since he already ripped her over the comments she’d made about race during her infamous “church speech,” where she made comments that raising questions about the hiring of Wade was about racism. But she just doesn’t seem to be able to stop herself from continuing to step in it with her comments.
Willis is also facing a probe by the House looking into her office’s alleged misuse of federal grant funds after a whistleblower came forward. Willis has claimed the whistleblower is a “disgruntled employee.”
Advertisement
Related: