Former prosecutors and legal observers in Georgia are asking questions as they try to make sense of reporting that the Justice Department has sought out travel records from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Several are raising concerns that it could represent political retribution against Willis for her election interference case against President Donald Trump and more than a dozen other prominent Republican allies.
“I literally cannot think of anything that is not political,” former DeKalb County DA Robert James said.
The New York Times reported late Friday that federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Georgia had secured a subpoena from a grand jury seeking records related to international travel they believe Willis took around the time of the 2024 election.
It was not immediately clear whether Willis, a Democrat and longtime prosecutor, was the target of an investigation or could face charges.
The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment. A Willis spokesperson said the office has “no comment beyond the fact we have no knowledge of any investigation.”
Willis’ travel in 2022 and 2023 was under the microscope during a dramatic evidentiary hearing early last year as defendants sought to have the Democrat and her office removed from the election case.
Defense attorneys asserted that personal trips Willis took to California and the Caribbean with a boyfriend, Nathan Wade, whom she’d hired to work on the case represented self-dealing since he paid for portions of the trips. (Willis and her office were ultimately disqualified from prosecuting the case by an appeals court late last year, a decision that was affirmed by the state Supreme Court last week.)
But the Times said prosecutors are interested in travel Willis took in fall 2024, much later than the window scrutinized by the case defendants. Willis was on the ballot last fall as she sought a second term as Fulton’s top prosecutor. In November, she easily defeated a Republican challenger with more than 68% of the vote.
Caren Morrison, a former federal prosecutor and Georgia State University law professor, said she has “never seen anything like this” in her career.
“It certainly seems like they’re fishing,” Morrison said of the Justice Department. “I imagine they’ll root through all documentation that could have any conceivable connection to federal law — mortgage (documents), bank loans, maybe even her taxes.”
Morrison said it’s also possible prosecutors could be looking at Willis’ travel through the lens of campaign finance laws or potential misappropriation of funds.
News of the subpoena comes as Trump has amped up the pressure on his attorney general, Pam Bondi, and other federal prosecutors to more aggressively pursue his political enemies.
Thursday, a federal prosecutor in Virginia secured charges against former FBI director James Comey. Trump also pushed Bondi in a recent social media post to scrutinize New York Attorney General Letitia James, who successfully tried a large civil case against Trump before he was reelected.
Some of Willis’ political opponents cheered the news of the subpoena.
“A thorough investigation of her actions is warranted and long overdue,” said Josh McKoon, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party.
“Those who abused our criminal justice system to punish their political opponents should be held accountable,” said McKoon, who last week had called on the U.S. attorney, Georgia attorney general and state bar to investigate Willis for misconduct.
Over the past several years, the state GOP has paid for the legal defense of three party activists whom Willis secured charges against for their roles as Trump presidential electors in 2020.
Attorneys representing others charged in the election case largely stayed silent on Friday and early Saturday, including Trump’s Georgia defense team.
But Scott Grubman, a former federal prosecutor who represented Ken Chesebro, a defendant who struck a plea deal with the Fulton DA’s office in fall 2023, said he strongly condemned his former employer’s moves against Willis.
“It represents the continued weaponization of the DOJ,” he said. “I think the office’s leadership ought to be ashamed.”
James, the former DeKalb DA, believes it will be hard for prosecutors to try any sort of case against Willis. She is largely shielded by prosecutorial immunity, and as an elected official, is generally given wide latitude when it comes to campaigning, he said.
“I can’t think of anything, unless there’s some smoking gun where she’s in a dark room and she acknowledges that there’s no evidence, but because I don’t like (Trump) and his politics I’m going to take the case to the grand jury, lie about evidence and manipulate them, get an indictment and prosecute him,” he said. “That seems pretty far-fetched to me.”
Still, James said he would be nervous if he was in Willis’ shoes.
“The rules that have normally applied apparently don’t apply anymore,” he said. “What you would think is not possible happens, and it’s been happening on a daily basis.”
Congressman Mike Collins, a Jackson Republican who is running for U.S. Senate, suggested the Justice Department could be focusing on possible connections between Willis’ case and Joe Biden’s White House.
“The American people deserve to know if Biden’s administration colluded with Willis on her witch hunt against President Trump that wasted taxpayer funds instead of fighting violent crime in Atlanta,” he said.
Republicans have continued to zoom in on trips Willis and members of her prosecutorial team took to D.C. as they were building their case against Trump and others.
State Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn and a candidate for Congress, said Trump is weaponizing the Department of Justice.
“He is using it as his personal vendetta machine to go after his perceived political enemies. People who either won’t do what he asked, or people who he feels has tried to hold him accountable in any way, are going to be on that list. And I’m sure we’re going to continue to see the DOJ come up with more reasons to indict people.”
— Staff writer Tia Mitchell contributed to this article.
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