Tipsheet

Grab the Popcorn: Jim Jordan Subpoenas Fani Willis

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  February 02, 2024 12:15 PM

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a subpoena to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, seeking documents related to the DA's office reportedly planning to mishandle federal grant funds. Willis, who's in charge of the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump, is already embroiled in a scandal involving special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she appointed to lead the Trump prosecution and allegedly had an affair with at the time of his hiring.

On August 24, 2023, the House committee wrote to Willis requesting documents in the custody of her office detailing its receipt and usage of federal grant funds issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Since then, the committee sent two follow-up letters, on September 27, 2023 and December 5, 2023, reiterating the requests, with which Willis has failed to comply voluntarily.

According to a recent report by The Washington Free Beacon, an ex-employee has accused Willis's office of wanting to squander funds—meant for the creation of a youth advocacy center—on "frivolous, unrelated" expenses, such as "swag" and travel.

For the fiscal year 2020, the DOJ awarded the DA's office a $488,000-plus federal grant to establish the Fulton County Center of Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention "to work with boys and girls ages 12-17 who are at risk of joining gangs, were exposed to gang violence or victimized by criminal street gangs, or seeking assistance in removing themselves from gang activity," according to the award information outlined by the DOJ's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

This initiative, through funding by the federal grant, was intended to "establish a community network...in Fulton County to identify and address service gaps and barriers and create a comprehensive system of service for youth at risk of becoming gang involved or continuing in the gang lifestyle." Services were supposed to include cognitive behavioral therapy and counseling.

Recommended

Bombshell Report Reveals Disturbing Truths About the Biden-Harris Parole Pipeline Sarah Arnold
ICE Sends Hochul Grim Warning After Arresting Wanted Illegal Immigrant Sarah Arnold

Instead of using the federal funding to help at-risk youths, the DA's office sought to exploit the DOJ grant to "get Macbooks," "swag," and to travel, the former staffer alleged in a recorded conversation with Willis on November 19, 2021. The whistleblower's direct supervisor Michael Cuffee, a top Willis campaign aide, allegedly claimed the purchases were part of Willis's "vision."

When confronted about the accusations, which she didn't dispute in the implicating audio recording, Willis allegedly fired the whistleblower as retribution, having her escorted out of the office by a cadre of armed investigators less than two months later.

"These allegations raise serious concerns about whether you were appropriately supervising the expenditure of federal grant funding allocated to your office and whether you took actions to conceal your office's unlawful use of federal funds," Jordan wrote in Friday's congressional letter addressed to Willis. Then, the Republican lawmaker attached a subpoena for the requested material to discern whether Willis attempted to hide the alleged misuse of federal grant money in an ensuing cover-up.

The subpoena instructs Willis to produce all documentation and communications discussing the federal funding from the period of September 1, 2020, to the present in "unredacted form." Willis's deadline to respond with the records is February 23.

Willis and Wade, the lead Trump prosecutor, are facing similar allegations of misusing taxpayer dollars on lavish vacations the two allegedly took together as lovers. Wade is billing the county at a $250-an-hour rate for his work on the Trump case, a bill that has amounted to more than $654,000 in income. Credit card statements document Wade's spending spree on plane tickets, Caribbean cruises, and high-end resorts, all apparently with his boss, Willis, designated as a travel companion.

The whistleblower says she sees a "pattern" of financial impropriety in Willis's conduct.

"My case and Nathan Wade's case are very similar when you break them down point by point," the whistleblower told The Washington Free Beacon. "Ethical violations, abuse of power, and the misuse of county, state, and federal funds."

Willis's office responded to the subpoena shortly after it was made public.

"These false allegations are included in baseless litigation filed by a holdover employee from the previous administration who was terminated for cause," Willis, denying the whistleblower's accusations, said in a press statement obtained by Fox News. "The courts that have ruled found no merit in these claims. We expect the same result in any pending litigation," she added.

"Any examination of the records of our grant programs will find that they are highly effective and conducted in cooperation with the Department of Justice and in compliance with all Department of Justice requirements. Our federal grant programs are focused on helping at-risk youth and seeking justice for sexual assault victims who were too long ignored. Our federal grant-funded Sexual Assault Kit Initiative has been cited by the United States Attorney General as a model program. We are proud of our grant programs and our partnership with the Department of Justice that makes Fulton County a safer, more just place."