Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis skipped a hearing Friday before a special Georgia state Senate committee looking into allegations of wrongdoing against prosecutors.
The Republican-led committee formed this year specifically investigated allegations of “various forms of wrongdoing” against Willis in connection with the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, who was indicted along with 18 allies, accused of trying to overturn the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
Willis’ role in the case has been called into question after it was revealed that she had a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor hired to lead the case against Trump. The former president’s team had sought to dismiss the case on charges that Willis’ relationship with the prosecutor, Nathan Wade, created a conflict of interest, although Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled in March that Willis be allowed to remain on the case. for a long time, Wade stepped aside.
Trump and his co-defendants have appealed the ruling by McAfee, and the Georgia Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments in the case in December.
Willis was subpoenaed by a special committee of the Georgia state Senate to testify at a hearing on Friday.
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In addition to testifying in the state Senate, Willis’ subpoena ordered him to produce documents related to Wade’s hiring and payments. State lawmakers are also seeking copies of text messages between prosecutors, regardless of subject matter. Willis said in a court filing earlier this week that producing the information would place a “tremendous” burden on her office and that the “broad request” of the subpoena was “extremely harmful to the Prosecutor.”
Willis did not attend Friday’s hearing and actively challenged the legality of the subpoena, although the court did not issue a ruling on the challenge until Friday. The Associated Press (AP) reported that the Senate committee even heard from the attorney of legislative counsel and the former secretary of the state Senate, both of whom said that state lawmakers have the power to use subpoenas to compel testimony and documents from witnesses as. part of its investigation.
As former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek There, the question of legality around Willis’ subpoena will have to be decided by the Georgia court, “but these types of legislative subpoenas are generally void because of the separation of powers.”
“The legislature passes the law and the executive enforces it,” Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, said in an email. “The Georgia State Senate cannot tell the District Attorney about prosecuting cases.”
Even if the subpoena was found by the court to be valid, Rahmani added, the Georgia state Senate “cannot enforce it on its own.”
“They need a prosecutor like the Georgia Attorney General to compel attendance or prosecute Willis for failure to do so,” he said. “Willis can file a motion to quash the subpoena, which he has, or he can raise a separation of powers defense in any action to enforce the subpoena.”
Legal analyst and attorney Dave Aronberg echoes this Newsweek there is that Willis is “allowed to seek the intervention of the court in this matter” as he challenged the subpoena.
“If they ignore the subpoena completely,” Aronberg notes, “there could be consequences… But not yet.”
According to AP, the chairman of the Georgia state Senate committee, state Senator Bill Cowsert, said during the hearing that the panel has hired outside counsel to help in enforcing the subpoena against Willis.
As Trump’s election subversion case stalled in court, McAfee dismissed two charges against the former president on Thursday, ruling that the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office lacked jurisdiction to bring charges over documents filed in federal court. The judge allowed eight more charges against Trump to go forward — down from the 13 he faced.
