Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has written a second letter to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), rejecting his request for information about her prosecution of former President Trump.
Trump is among 19 co-defendants who were indicted by a grand jury on racketeering and other charges related to attempts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election, following a more-than two-year investigation by Willis.
Jordan, who is not only Chair of the House Judiciary Committee but also he House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which he helped create to investigate what he’s called “this weaponization of the DOJ against the American people,” wrote to Willis in September, firing back at her initial “hostile response” to his demand that she answer to Congress about her state-level investigation.
“A charitable explanation of your correspondence is that you are ignorant of the United States and Georgia Constitutions and codes,” Willis wrote in her latest letter to Jordan on Wednesday, adding that a “more troubling explanation is that you are abusing your authority as Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary to attempt to obstruct and interfere with a Georgia criminal prosecution.”
Jordan began the back-and-forth in August, writing his first letter to Willis just hours before Trump was booked at Fulton County Jail, making history as the first-ever former President to have his mug shot taken.
The Representative from Ohio had asked Willis to turn over all her documents and communications related to the investigation—to which Willis had fired back by accusing Jordan of “illegal intrusion” into the affairs of the state of Georgia.
Having a reputation for being a partisan firebrand, Jordan is currently running for Speaker of the House to replace the ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Yesterday Jordan failed to secure the nomination of his party in a closed-door vote won by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) 113-99.
In April another District Attorney prosecuting Trump, Manhattan’s Alvin Bragg, accused Jordan and other Republicans of “attempt[ing] to undermine an active investigation and ongoing New York criminal case with an unprecedented campaign of harassment and intimidation,” after three House committees demanded testimony from former Manhattan prosecutor Mark Pomerantz.
Trump was indicted in New York on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and conspiracy related to “hush money” payments during the 2016 Presidential campaign.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 91 criminal counts against him in four prosecutions at both the state and federal levels.
In Wednesday’s letter, Willis said to Jordan, “As I have explained, your requests implicate significant, well recognized confidentiality interests related to an ongoing criminal matter, as well as serious constitutional concerns regarding federalism and separation of powers.”
