Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis came in swinging in her latest response to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, this time concerning a request for more information regarding her criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
“A charitable explanation of your correspondence is that you are ignorant of the United States and Georgia Constitutions and codes,” Ms Willis wrote on 11 October.
She continued, “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.”
She was replying to Mr Jordan’s 27 September demands for more information on the Trump case, calling the district attorney’s prosecution of the former president “politically motivated.”
Mr Jordan asserted, “Congress in general, and this Committee in particular, have a strong legislative interest in ensuring that popularly elected local prosecutors do not misuse their law-enforcement authority to target federal officials for political reasons.”
The district attorney then pointed to her last letter. On 7 September, she called Mr Jordan’s “attempt to interfere with” her office’s “prosecution of state criminal cases” unconstitutional, underscoring the separation of powers issue at play. Ms Willis wrote: “Congress’s lawful prerogative to interfere with states’ administration of their criminal laws is extremely limited.”
In Wednesday’s letter, she said that her previous note explained “why the legal positions you advance are meritless. Nothing you’ve said in your latest letter changes that fact.” Ms Willis reiterated, “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. “
In her conclusion of the letter, Ms Willis wrote with a flourish: “I would encourage you to focus your attention on those issues, which would make life better for the American people.”
The exchange follows the House Judiciary Committee’s decision to launch a probe into the Fulton County investigation in August following the indictment of Mr Trump and 18 others.
The probe intends to look into “whether the Fulton County District Attorney’s office coordinated with federal officials, including DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith, for its politicized indictment of former President Donald Trump, a former White House Chief of Staff, and a former U.S. DOJ official,” the committee wrote.
The Independent has reached out to a spokesperson for Mr Jordan.
