Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks to the media August 14, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia after a grand jury found indictment against former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies over their attempt to overturn the state’s 2020 election results tilt, brought back.
Elijah Newage | Reuters
The Republican-led Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives has opened an investigation into the work of the Atlanta attorney who criminally charged Donald Trump and others with interference in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
The House Committee on Thursday sent a letter to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis requesting documents and information, including any communications her office had with Jack Smith, the federal special counsel serving on Trump-related allegations prosecuted for attempting to overturn the 2020 national election results.
“Your charges and prosecutions imply significant federal interests, and the circumstances of your actions raise serious concerns as to whether they are politically motivated,” committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote to Willis.
“The indictment appears to be an attempt to use state criminal law to regulate the conduct of federal officials acting in their official capacity,” Jordan wrote.
Jordan requested not only communications with Smith, but also documents related to the prosecutor’s use of federal funds, as well as her communications with federal executive officials.
Jordan asked Willis to provide the information by September 7th.
Trump is scheduled to surrender Thursday night at an Atlanta jail to face arraignment in the case. Eighteen other people, including lawyers who made false claims about the 2020 election, have also been charged in the case.
The lion’s share of Jordan’s letter is devoted to explaining why a congressional committee has the right to request information about a state criminal investigation.
Traditionally, the committee’s jurisdiction has been limited to oversight of federal courts and federal officials.
But Jordan claims Willis’s case, which involves Trump’s attempt to reverse his defeat at the hands of President Joe Biden by interfering in Georgia’s results, falls within his committee’s purview because it targets actions by then-federal officials, including Trump and his chief White House staffer Mark Meadows.
The House Judiciary Committee earlier this year requested similar information from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr., who is prosecuting Trump in another criminal case.
Bragg accused Trump in the New York State Supreme Court of forging business records related to a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump pleaded not guilty in this case.
Trump currently leads polls of all candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
In his letter, Jordan pointed out that Willis “identified a number of acts that you allege were committed in furtherance of this alleged criminal enterprise” by Trump and others.
These include “the then White House Chief of Staff, who asked a member of Congress for the phone number of the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; (2) the then-President tweeted that hearings in the Georgia Legislature would be broadcast on a newscast.” Channel and commentary on these hearings; and (3) numerous actions in other states unrelated to the conduct of the 2020 Georgia election or the counting of votes cast in Georgia.”
– Additional coverage by CNBC’s Christina Wilkie.
