Defense attorney in Trump's Georgia case tees up Fani Willis for renewed scrutiny with damning testimony

The Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations learned this week that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis may not have been entirely forthright when answering questions about her timely visits to Washington, D.C., or when asking the county for millions of dollars in taxpayer funds.

While the panel is powerless to oust Willis from office, damning insights gleaned from testimony heard Wednesday could nevertheless help to blow up the Democrat's career.

Quick background

Willis' year got off to a rough start when an attorney for one of the co-defendants in former President Donald Trump's Georgia case filed a motion to disqualify her. Attorney Ashleigh Merchant's Jan. 8 court filing accused Willis of pursuing the case despite a conflict of interest and engaging in other improprieties.

In the months since, Merchant has proven a thorn in the Democrat's side, exposing Willis to scrutiny over her affair with Nathan Wade — the allegedly underqualified man she ultimately appointed top Trump prosecutor — and other possibly compromising choices.

While the last two months were particularly rocky, it appears Willis' year may get a whole lot worse.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee has yet to determine whether Willis and Wade should be disqualified from the Georgia case for what defense attorney Craig Gillen characterized as "systematic misconduct"; however, other officials are looking into possible wrongdoing on Willis' part in the meantime — including members of a state Senate special committee.

Merchant testified before the Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations for over three hours Wednesday, intimating the Georgia case is compromised not only by those directly involved but by its possible connection to the Biden White House as well.

A timely visit to DC

Merchant highlighted a White House record during her testimony Wednesday that indicates Willis met with Vice President Kamala Harris on Feb. 28, 2023, just months before Trump's Georgia indictment.

"My understanding is that it's highly regulated who can access the White House," said Merchant. "So you have to apply ahead of time."

The record suggests the meeting took place on a "side lawn/tent" at the U.S. Naval Observatory where 456 people were present for what appears to have been an invitation-only Black History Month event.

Mike Howell of the Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project similarly made a note of the White House record in January.

When asked about her trips to Washington, D.C., during her ethics hearing in Fulton County Superior Court earlier this month, Willis said, "I know that I have been to D.C. — I did an interview with Howard University. I went to D.C. for that. Seems like I been to D.C. one other time. Oh! I went to D.C. for the Global Summit."

A defense attorney asked Willis, "When you went to D.C., did you go to the White House?"

Willis answered under oath, "I did not go to the White House."

A spokesman for the DA's office told CNN that there was no "secret meeting" between Willis and Harris in February 2023. The spokesman suggested further that Willis did not even meet Harris at the black history event and only saw her on stage from a distance.

Blaze News reached out to the White House regarding whether Willis met with Harris on Feb. 28 or other occasions but did not immediately receive a response.

While it remains unclear whether Willis personally met with Harris, her lover was certainly up close and personal with elements of the Biden White House ahead of the Trump indictment.

Blaze News previously reported that invoices included in Merchant's motion to disqualify indicate that Nathan Wade had an eight-hour meeting on May 23, 2022, with "White House Counsel" and another eight-hour White House meeting on Nov. 11, 2022.

Merchant appeared reluctant to explicitly accuse Willis and Wade of conspiring with the Biden administration to kneecap the Republican front-runner.

Money problems

Merchant told the committee that after Willis pleaded with the Fulton County Board of Commissioners in 2021 for millions of dollars to fight the rise in crime and the backlog of homicide cases resultant of COVID-19, she allegedly ended up using a sizeable portion of the taxpayer funds on Trump's election case.

The Democratic DA then hired Wade in a manner such that she could allegedly dodge oversight and pay him more than the other much more experienced prosecutors.

Whereas Wade, previously a middling associate municipal court judge in Marietta, reportedly entered into a contract with Willis' office on Nov. 1, 2021, at a rate of $250 per hour, John Floyd, one of Georgia's top experts on federal and state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statutes, entered into a contract on March 10 of that year at a rate of $150 per hour.

An extra $100 an hour would have gone the distance when paying down Wade's and Willis' luxurious vacations together.

Republican state Sen. Bill Cowsert, the chair of the committee, appeared particularly interested in Wade's apparently uncustomary tendency to submit invoices to the DA's office charging by blocks of hours rather than in hourly increments.

Merchant told lawmakers that Floyd and prosecutor Anna Cross alternatively submitted itemized invoices and were both paid a great deal less than Willis' lover, reported WAGA-TV. Whereas Wade reportedly received roughly $700,000 for his work, Cross received $100,000, and Floyd brought in even less.

Republican lawmakers also puzzled over why the Democratic DA needed to hire special prosecutors in the first place.

"Why wouldn't you just hire more assistant DAs and have them in-house?" asked Cowsert.

According to Merchant, Willis would have run afoul of nepotism rules if she hired Wade. Additionally, as a special prosecutor, Wade stood to make far more money than an assistant DA, whose pay rate is set by statute. Whereas assistant DAs make roughly $175,000 per year, Wade has cleared substantially more.

The Washington Times reported that the Georgia Senate's special committee has alluded to the presence of whistleblowers in Willis' office who are willing to spill the beans.

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