House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has initiated a probe into Fulton County’s District Attorney Fani Willis regarding her recent indictments against former President Donald Trump and his allies. The development comes as the nation waits for the former president to surrender to Georgia authorities. Several individuals who are being charged have already turned themselves in and made bond.
Jordan sent a letter Thursday to Willis expressing concerns over issues related to the indictment, particularly the timing and motivation behind the charges. “Your indictment and prosecution implicate substantial federal interests, and the circumstances surrounding your actions raise serious concerns about whether they are politically motivated,” he wrote.
The lawmaker pointed out that “it is noteworthy that just four days before this indictment, you launched a new campaign fundraising website that highlighted your investigation into President Trump” and referred to how the forewoman of the grand jury “bragged during an unusual media tour about her excitement at the prospect of subpoenaing President Trump and getting to swear him in.”
Jordan also brought up the Fulton County Superior Court’s clerk’s public release of “a list of criminal charges against President Trump reportedly hours before the vote of the grand jury.”
The letter explains why the district attorney’s actions raise questions about her motivation behind the indictments:
The timing of this prosecution reinforces concerns about your motivation. In February 2021, news outlets reported that you directed your office to open an investigation into President Trump.
Indeed, sometime on or around February 11, 2021, your office purportedly sent a letter to several Republican officials in Georgia, requesting that they preserve documents relating to a “matter . . . of high priority” that your office was investigating. Yet, you did not bring charges until two-and-a-half years later, at a time when the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is in full swing. Moreover, you have requested that the trial in this matter begin on March 4, 2024, the day before Super Tuesday and eight days before the Georgia presidential primary. It is therefore unsurprising many have speculated that this indictment and prosecution are designed to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.
Jordan went on to detail how the indictments affect federal interests and questioned potential coordination between the district attorney’s office and the Justice Department, which recently indicted the former president for a slew of charges related to the 2020 presidential election. He demands that Willis turn over specific documents by September 7.
The details surrounding Fulton County’s indictments against Trump and his allies do seem to raise even more questions about the motivations behind the charges. This indictment, like all of the others that were filed against Trump previously, reeks of politics. It would be difficult for any honest person to look at these stories and completely deny any possibility that these are brazen efforts to influence the outcome of the upcoming presidential election by burying Trump in a morass of legal troubles.
It would not be surprising if Willis did not comply with Jordan’s request. The question is: Will House Republicans be willing to play hardball if she doesn’t?
