Atlanta

House Judiciary Committee threatens Willis with contempt if she doesn’t produce documents

ATLANTA — House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan has sent another letter to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis threatening to hold her in contempt if she doesn’t provide him with documents that he is requesting for oversight over her office.

Last month, Jordan subpoenaed Willis “for documents related to the Committee’s oversight of the Fulton County D.A. Office’s alleged misuse of federal grant funds.”

The move comes after a codefendant in the Georgia election interference case accused Willis in a court filing of having an “improper relationship” with the special prosecutor, Nathan Wade, whom she brought in to head the case against former President Donald Trump and several of his allies.

They are accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election here in Georgia.

In Jordan’s latest letter, he said that Willis and her office “produced a narrow set of documents in response to the subpoena, but your compliance with the subpoena to date is deficient.”

“You noted a ‘preliminarily object[ion]’ to the Committee’s subpoena on the grounds that the subpoena is ‘overbroad and unduly burdensome under any ordinary meaning of those terms.’ To the contrary, the Committee has exercised its authority with restraint: the subpoena seeks only two categories of documents and the scope of its requests covers only a limited time period; namely, from January 1, 2020, to present,” Jordan’s letter to Willis said.

Jordan has given Willis a deadline of noon on March 28 to get his office the documents he has requested or, he said, “the Committee will consider taking further action, such as the invocation of contempt of Congress proceedings.”

This letter is the latest move by Jordan in his efforts to impact the Georgia election interference case.

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In December, Jordan sent a letter to Willis saying he would be investigating any “cooperation” between her, her office, and the former House Jan. 6 committee.

In August, Jordan sent a letter to Willis demanding information on possible communications between officials with the Department of Justice and the Executive Branch over the indictment of Trump.

Willis shot back, saying Jordan’s letter to her office at the time was an “obvious” attempt “to obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding and to advance outrageous partisan misrepresentations.”

“The demands in your letter—and your efforts at intruding upon the State of Georgia’s criminal authority—violate constitutional principles of federalism. Criminal prosecutions under state law are primarily the responsibility of state governments,” Willis wrote.

We are still awaiting a ruling by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee about whether or not Willis will be removed from the case.

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