A judge overseeing the Fulton County special grand jury inquiry into the 2020 election and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results in Georgia tore into District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday for helping to fundraise against a target of her investigation.
At issue was Willis participating in a fundraiser for Democratic lieutenant governor hopeful Charlie Bailey in June, a rival to Republican Burt Jones, who has been informed he is a criminal target of the Fulton County district attorney’s investigation. Noting poor optics, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney criticized Willis but refrained from ruling on whether she should be removed from that aspect of the inquiry.
LINDSEY GRAHAM TO ACCEPT SUBPOENA IN FULTON COUNTY ELECTION INQUIRY
“I don’t know that it’s an actual conflict, but … it’s a ‘what are you thinking’ moment,” McBurney said during a hearing Thursday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. “If we’re trying to maintain confidence that this investigation is pursuing facts in a nonpartisan sense … that strikes me as problematic.”
Lawyers for Jones reportedly claimed the June fundraiser Willis attended reaped $32,000 for his Democratic rival and implored the judge to order the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office to appoint another prosecutor to the case to question him. They were in court Thursday for a hearing on a motion filed to disqualify Willis over the fundraiser.
“The concern I’m working through is that it’s not a lowercase ‘a’ appearance. It’s like a capital ‘A’ with flashy lights fundraiser with the district attorney for the political opponent of someone I’ve named a target of my investigation, where I’m the legal adviser to the grand jury, and I’m on national media almost nightly talking about this investigation,” McBurney added. “That’s problematic.”
An attorney for Willis pointed out that Bailey was competing in a runoff at the time Willis attended the fundraiser and that it was not clear who would get the Democratic nod to face Jones in the fall, the outlet reported. Lawyers also stressed that Willis had not treated Jones differently than the other subjects.
McBurney noted that his ruling on Jones’s disqualification motion against Willis would be forthcoming.
Jones, who clinched the Republican nod for lieutenant governor in May, had attended a meeting in December 2020 in which 16 Georgia Republicans were deemed alternative electors — a slate that could be called on to supplant the official electors in the event that challenges to the 2020 election prevailed in court. The special grand jury has since subpoenaed those alternate electors.
Eleven of the 16 alternate electors had also sought to quash the subpoenas against them. Jones was not named as a plaintiff in that challenge from the 11 alternative electors. Attorneys for the 11 alternate electors had argued that they had been ignorant of broader plans to “misuse” their votes and should be left off the hook from criminal liability.
McBurney quickly shot that down Thursday, ruling that the electors must honor their subpoenas but could invoke their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, per the outlet.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Willis began the investigation last year into whether crimes were committed during the aftermath of the 2020 Georgia election after Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he asked the official to “find” votes sufficient enough to reverse his loss to President Joe Biden. A special grand jury for the inquiry was impaneled in May to assist with the inquiry and issue subpoenas.
Allies of Trump, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and lawyer Rudy Giuliani, have been called to testify before the special grand jury in the case. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
