House Republicans have filed a subpoena for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis following allegations that she misused Justice Department funds and fired a whistleblower who tried to prevent it.
In a letter, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan accused Willis of failing to comply with previous requests for information and demanded all documents and communications “referencing or relating to the receipt and use of federal funds by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office” and “that refer to or relate to any allegations of misuse of federal funds.”
The committee cited a Free Beacon report accusing Willis aide Michael Cuffe of planning to divert about $488,000 earmarked for the creation of a Center of Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention to pay for “swag” including new computers and travel.
Willis’ office has denied previous requests for documents, saying there is “no constitutional justification for Congress to intervene in a state criminal case.”
Amanda Timpson, a former employee in Willis’ office responsible for providing “alternatives to the juvenile justice system” to nonviolent juvenile offenders, met with Willis to discuss Cuffe’s attempts to misuse federal funds, according to a recording of the conversation obtained by the Beacon.
“He wanted to do things with grants that were impossible, and I kept telling him, ‘We can’t do that,’” Timpson told Willis at a meeting on November 19, 2021. “He told everyone… ‘We’re going to get MacBooks buy it, we’re going to buy swag, we’re going to use it for travel.” I said, ‘You can’t do that, it’s a very, very specific subsidy.'”
“I respect that this is your assessment,” Willis replied. “And I’m not saying your assessment is wrong.”
But less than two months later, Timpson was kicked out of his office and escorted out of the office by seven armed investigators.
Willis has come under fire from Republicans following reports that she enlisted her lover Nathan Wade to lead the extortion case against former President Donald Trump.
Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) confers with lead prosecutors Donald Wakeford (left) and Nathan Wade during a hearing at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on Friday, July 1, 2022
Last month, the committee demanded documents related to Willis’ relationship with Wade, noting that he was paid more than $650,000 — at a rate of $250 an hour — to work on the investigation and prosecution of Trump and others federal officials, according to a new study. court file.
The committee noted that federal funds may have been used to pay Wade, giving them the authority to investigate. It highlighted the “enormous legal fees” that Wade charged the district attorney’s office in one case, on November 5, 2021, for 24 hours of legal work in one day, claiming he spent all day and night working on the prosecution to have worked.