Court: Fani Willis Must Turn Over Communications With ‘Get Trump’ Special Counsel, J6 Committee
Fulton County DA Fani Willis must turn over communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith and Democrats' Jan. 6 Committee, a judge ruled.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — the Georgia prosecutor who brought charges against former President Donald Trump — has won her bid for re-election in overwhelming fashion.
Willis — a noted Democrat incumbent — defeated Republican challenger Courtney Kramer on Tuesday. Willis easily defeated Kramer by a whopping margin of nearly 68% to 32%.
Trump's lawyers have called for Willis to be removed from the case due to her seeming conflict of interest because of her 'personal relationship' with Nathan Wade.
Fulton County is a Democratic stronghold that includes most of Atlanta, which has 11% of the state’s electorate.
Kramer was an intern in the White House counsel’s office during the Trump presidency and is active in Republican activist organizations.
Willis won her election in 2021 after defeating her former boss — District Attorney Paul Howard — in the primary. She was not challenged by a Republican in that election.
Willis made a name for herself by launching an investigation into Trump. Willis' office indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants in August 2023 on felony charges related to alleged attempts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results.
Four individuals have pleaded guilty after reaching plea deals with prosecutors.
Willis has weaponized racketeering, or RICO, laws, to go after Trump and his allies.
Trump and the other defendants have pleaded not guilty in the case.
However, Trump's lawyers have called for Willis to be removed from the case due to her seeming conflict of interest because of her "personal relationship" with Nathan Wade — a special prosecutor whom she hired.
The Georgia Court of Appeals plans to hear oral arguments in the Willis case against Trump beginning on Dec. 5.
Willis said she wants to serve three terms as district attorney and then move on to teaching at her undergraduate alma mater — Howard University in Washington, D.C.
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Blue counties in and around Atlanta, Georgia, are apparently engaging in some election shenanigans this weekend that may run afoul of state law, prompting the RNC to file yet another election integrity lawsuit.
According to a Saturday morning X post from RNC chairman Michael Whatley, Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb, and Gwinnett Counties will permit voters to drop off absentee ballots at designated polling locations this weekend. Whatley added that extending hours for ballot drop-offs "disregards the law."
'The Secretary of State has issued guidance to allow Republican poll watchers in but local officials REFUSE.'
Indeed, Georgia Code § 21-2-385, passed during the 2023-2024 legislative session, says that early voting in Georgia will begin "on the fourth Monday immediately prior to each primary or election" and "end on the Friday immediately prior to each primary, election, or runoff" (emphasis added).
In 2024, that end point should have been November 1.
Furthermore, Ga. Code § 21-2-382 adds that "all drop boxes shall be closed when the advance voting period ends."
Nevertheless, a report from local PBS and NPR affiliate WABE confirmed that "metro Atlanta residents who live in Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb or Gwinnett counties can drop off their absentee ballots over the weekend and on Monday, Nov. 4, the day before Election Day, at their local election offices."
What's worse, there initially may not have been official oversight of some of these drop-off locations. A photo of an email apparently written by Kathryn Glenn, the registration manager of the Department of Registration & Elections in Fulton County, and apparently sent to dozens of office employees indicates that no poll watchers had been authorized.
"FYI - There are NO WATCHERS approved for ballot drop off! Do not let them in the building," Glenn wrote, according to the photo.
"If they want to observe from the parking lot, you can't stop that," her email apparently continued, "but they are not allowed to sit in the building. Have your security detail enforce it!!!"
As a result, the RNC has already filed a lawsuit, Whatley claimed. As of Saturday afternoon, it remains "pending," he said.
Josh McKoon, the leader of the Georgia Republican Party and a former state senator, called these latest moves from Democrat-area election officials a "blatant violation" of Georgian election law.
"We all know what is going on — Democrats are panicked by the incredible Republican turnout in early voting and will do anything to try to catch up even if it means doing it under the cover of darkness and stiff arming any independent observation of whatever the hell is going on in their four 'special voting locations' open today with no notice or approval by anyone authorized to oversee elections administration," McKoon tweeted on Saturday morning.
McKoon tweeted Saturday afternoon that poll watchers had finally been permitted on the premises.
"Fulton County and other counties are now allowing our poll watchers to observe the voting activity occurring" on Saturday, he wrote.
He attributed the change to a pressure campaign from Republican leaders at the state and national levels.
"While we should not have to alert the public to have Georgia law enforced, I am pleased that lawful observation is now occurring."
Blaze News reached out to Kathryn Glenn and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) for comment but did not receive a response.
This is a developing story. Check back with Blaze News for further updates.
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Nathan Wade, the Atlanta-area attorney who once attempted to prosecute former President Donald Trump, may now be in some hot water himself after he apparently avoided the service of a congressional subpoena.
Last Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) issued a subpoena for Wade to participate in a closed-door interview regarding the Fulton County case against Trump spearheaded by Wade's former lover, District Attorney Fani Willis.
Jordan issued the subpoena because he and other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are looking into what Jordan characterized as the 'politically motivated prosecution' of Trump.
Though the subpoena demanded that Wade appear before the committee on Thursday, Wade never responded and then went missing, allegedly because he was "trying to avoid service," a Republican lawyer familiar with the matter told the Washington Examiner.
So Jordan ordered the U.S. Marshals to go find him.
"Nathan Wade’s evasion of service is extremely unusual and will require the Committee to spend US tax dollars to locate him," Russell Dye, a spokesman for the committee, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Wade had not responded to any of the emails associated with the subpoena, and his attorney had declined accepting service, the New York Post reported.
Several days ago, Roy Barnes, an attorney representing Willis, insisted the committee that Wade's interview would have to be postponed so that a lawyer from Willis' office could accompany him and "assert any necessary privilege objections." Jordan denied that request.
"The eleventh-hour intervention from District Attorney Willis does not excuse your failure to appear for your transcribed interview," Jordan informed Wade.
The pressure campaign appears to have worked as late Thursday evening, Wade contacted the U.S. Marshals and scheduled an appointment for subpoena service. The Post indicated that he has since been served.
Wade's appearance before the committee will be rescheduled on account of the delay, the Post said.
Jordan issued the subpoena because he and other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are looking into what Jordan characterized as Willis' "politically motivated prosecution" of Trump.
Trump and 18 other defendants have been accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Though pundits insisted the evidence in that case spelled trouble for Trump, the future of the case now remains largely in doubt for two main reasons.
First, the former president has challenged the merits of the charges in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling regarding presidential immunity. Three charges against Trump have already been dropped as a result.
Furthermore, Wade found himself accused of financially benefitting from the prosecution of Trump after his extramarital affair with Willis came to light earlier this year. Before he was removed from the case because of the apparent conflict of interest, Wade collected $700,000 for his work on the Trump-racketeering case, even though he has no experience prosecuting such cases.
Both Wade and Willis testified under oath that their sexual relationship began after Willis hired Wade, though cell phone data and testimony from former associates cast doubt on those assertions.
Their affair supposedly ended in the summer of 2023. However, the pair apparently remains in close contact since Wade joined Willis when she arrived on the scene of her daughter's arrest for allegedly driving on a suspended license a few weeks ago.
Wade and his wife reached a temporary agreement in their divorce case earlier this year.
In February, Willis received a subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee regarding her office's expenditures on the Trump case. Willis denied any wrongdoing.
"Any examination of the records of our grant programs will find that they are highly effective and conducted in cooperation with the Department of Justice and in compliance with all Department of Justice requirements," she said in a statement.
Wade's law office did not respond to a previous request for comment from the Examiner.
Former Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro were each sentenced to four months in prison for failing to comply with a House Jan. 6 committee subpoena.
Navarro completed his sentence earlier this year. Bannon remains in custody at this time and will be released just days before the 2024 election.
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