Ga. Law Could Oust Trump’s Black D.A.

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

State lawmakers in Georgia and federal lawmakers on Capitol Hill may try to unseat Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Recently, state Republicans in Georgia began to expedite the passage of a new law that would allow the removal of local prosecutors with the likely first target of the law to be Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, while she is in the midst of prosecuting former President Donald Trump. 

The eight-person oversight commission was approved by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in May. The law outlines a series of offenses for which a prosecutor can be removed, including “willful and persistent failure” to carry out their duties and categorically refusing to prosecute crimes they are required by law to pursue.

“I am not gonna stand idly by as rogue or incompetent prosecutors refuse to uphold the law,” Kemp said at an Aug. 25 event in Savannah before he signed the bill which makes it possible to oust elected district attorneys from office if they are believed to not be adequately enforcing the law. “Today we are sending a message that we will not forfeit public safety for prosecutors who let criminals off the hook.”

This spring, Willis characterized the measure as “racist,” and said  Republicans were pushing the measure after the number of minority district attorneys increased from five to 14 in 2020. “I’m tired and I’m just going to call it how I see it,” she said. “I, quite frankly, think the legislation is racist. I don’t know what other thing to call it,” she told a senate panel earlier this year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

In a recent Facebook post, Georgia State Senator Clint Dixon accused the DA of prosecuting the ex-president to become “some sort of leftist celebrity.” In the post, Dixon acknowledged the “reality” of the Trump indictment in Georgia “is one of the reasons we passed a law.”

Meanwhile, according to CNN, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill launched a congressional investigation on Willis – the same day that Trump surrendered at the Fulton County Jail after being charged with trying to change Georgia’s 2020 election results.

Committee members sent a recent letter to Willis asking if “she communicated or coordinated with the Justice Department, who has indicted Trump twice on two separate cases, or used federal dollars to complete her investigation that culminated in the fourth indictment of Trump,” according to CNN.

“The questions from Republicans about whether Willis used federal funding in her state-level investigation mirrors the same line of inquiry that Republicans used to probe Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg who indicted Trump in New York earlier this year for falsifying business records to cover up an alleged hush money scheme,” CNN noted.

In the recent Aug. 24 letter to Willis, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, wrote, “You did not bring charges until two-and-a-half years later, at a time when the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is in full swing.”

Jordan continued. “Moreover, you have requested that the trial in this matter begin on March 4, 2024, the day before Super Tuesday and eight days before the Georgia presidential primary.”

Jordan gave Willis a Sept. 7 deadline to hand over any documents or communication related to their request.

Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia recently told CNN earlier that she is pushing for a congressional-led inquiry into Willis.

“I’m going to be talking to Jim Jordan, Jamie Comer, and I’d like to also ask (Speaker) Kevin McCarthy his thoughts on looking at doing an investigation if there is a collaboration or conspiracy of any kind between the Department of Justice and Jack Smith’s special counsel’s office with the state DA’s,” Greene told CNN. “So, I think that could be a place of oversight.”

Willis has long declined to comment.