Georgia Governor Denies Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Request to Investigate Fani Willis

The governor’s office suggested the congresswoman instead file her complaint with a state committee
Georgia Governor Denies Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Request to Investigate Fani Willis
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) speaks at a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing in Washington on Jan. 18, 2024. (NTD)
Bill Pan
1/18/2024
Updated:
1/18/2024
0:00

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has reportedly rejected Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) complaint urging a criminal investigation into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her alleged romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she hired to help handle the election interference case against former President Donald Trump.

Ms. Greene, a staunch supporter of the former president, on Jan. 10 filed a request for an inquiry into Ms. Willis over the allegations, which emerged in a public filing submitted on behalf of Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign aide seeking to have the charges against him dismissed and for Ms. Willis to be disqualified from further prosecution of the case.

The document from Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer representing Mr. Roman, accused Ms. Willis of having an “improper, clandestine personal relationship” with Nathan Wade, a private attorney whom she brought in as special prosecutor in her investigation into President Trump.

In the document, Ms. Merchant alleged that Mr. Wade paid for lavish vacations he took with Ms. Willis in “California, Florida and the Caribbean” using the nearly $654,000 fund his Atlanta-based law firm received from Fulton County for his work on the Trump case.

She also claimed “sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney have confirmed they had an ongoing, personal relationship.”

In her letter to Georgia’s governor and attorney general, Ms. Greene urged an investigation into the allegations that Ms. Willis “illegally hired her secret boyfriend” to work on an “unprecedented, complex, and partisan” investigation into President Trump and his allies.

“This is part of Fani Willis’ unlawful partisan pattern, through her words and deeds, to illegally politicize and weaponize her public office to wage lawfare against President Trump for the purpose of interfering in the 2024 presidential election,” the congresswoman wrote.

Response From State Officials

In response to Ms. Greene’s request, Mr. Kemp’s office suggested that she bring her complaint to a state oversight committee, which was created in 2023 and tasked to review prosecutorial misconduct accusations.
“The Congresswoman has every right to refer her complaint to the oversight commission once the legislative process concludes this session and the commission begins full operations,” a spokesperson for Mr. Kemp said on Thursday in a statement to Breitbart. “Just last year, the Georgia General Assembly laid out a specific oversight process for district attorneys that is transparent and unbiased, which the governor supported and signed into law.”

In the meantime, the governor’s office stated that it’s aware that the allegations against Ms. Willis are serious enough that it could “jeopardize” people’s confidence in the state’s justice system.

“These allegations are deeply troubling and evidence should be presented quickly,” the spokesperson told Breitbart. “Georgians must have confidence in our legal system and its procedures, and these allegations—in addition to the lack of direct response from District Attorney Willis—jeopardize that confidence.”

The Georgia judge overseeing the election interference case against President Trump on Thursday scheduled a hearing next month to weigh Ms. Willis’ alleged misconduct.

In Thursday’s order, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee scheduled the hearing for Feb. 15. He also set a deadline for Ms. Willis to respond to the allegations in writing by Feb. 2.

In her first public remarks since the allegations made national headlines, Ms. Willis tried to defend her decision to hire Mr. Wade, but not without suggesting that those who take issue with that decision are racists.

“I appointed three special counselors. It’s my right to do. Paid them all the same hourly rate,” she said on Jan. 14 at the Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church during a service to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. “They only attack one.”

“I hired one white woman,” she told the congregation. “I hired one white man ... and I hired one black man,” she said, referring to Mr. Wade, whom she described as a “great friend” and “great lawyer.”

“You did not tell me as a woman of color, it would not matter what I did. My motive, my talent, my ability, and my character would be constantly attacked,” she said in her speech, much of which was framed as a conversation with God.