Fani Willis skips a Georgia state Senate hearing while challenging subpoena

A special Georgia state Senate committee that had subpoenaed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis with plans to question her Friday about "alleged misconduct" related to her election case against former President Donald Trump was unable to do so because she didn't show up.

The Republican-led committee was formed earlier this year to look into allegations of "various forms of misconduct" against Willis, an elected Democrat, with regard to her prosecution of Trump and others over their efforts to overturn the former president's 2020 election loss in Georgia. The committee last month sent subpoenas to Willis ordering her to appear and to produce piles of documents.

Willis last week filed a petition asking a judge to declare the subpoenas void and to keep the committee from enforcing them, but that challenge wasn't heard before Friday's hearing. Her campaign sent out an email Friday inviting supporters to a fundraising reception in Washington that afternoon.

In Willis' absence, the committee heard from a lawyer in the office of legislative counsel and a former secretary of the state Senate, both of whom said the committee does have the power to use subpoenas to compel witnesses to appear and to produce documents.

Committee chairman Sen. Bill Cowsert noted at the beginning of the hearing that Willis was not present. As it drew to a close, he asked a staffer to check the hallway outside the committee room in the state Capitol to make sure she wasn't waiting out there.

"Let's please note for the record that Ms. Willis has failed to appear in compliance with the subpoena and has failed to produce documents requested," Cowsert said. He added that the committee has hired outside legal counsel to assist in the enforcement of the subpoena.

The committee went into executive session to meet with its lawyer after the hearing was over. Then Cowsert and other Republican members of the committee left without addressing reporters.

Democratic committee member Sen. Harold Jones II told reporters that the committee is politically motivated and is "basically trying to serve the interests of former President Trump." He said lawmakers should instead be spending their time on issues that are important to Georgians.

Among the alleged misconduct the committee is investigating is Willis' hiring of special prosecutor Nathan Wade, with whom she had a romantic relationship, to lead the prosecution against Trump and others. The resolution creating the committee says the romantic relationship amounted to a "clear conflict of interest and a fraud upon the taxpayers" of the county and state.

Willis and Wade have acknowledged the relationship but have said it began after he was hired and ended before the indictment against Trump was filed.

Trump and other defendants argued that the relationship created a conflict of interest that should disqualify Willis and her office from continuing with her prosecution of the case. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in March ruled that Willis' actions showed a "tremendous lapse in judgment," but he did not find a conflict of interest that would disqualify Willis. He said she could continue her prosecution as long as Wade stepped aside, which he did.

Trump and others have appealed that ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals, which has scheduled arguments for December.

One of the committee's subpoenas orders Wills to produce documents related to Wade, including documents related to his hiring and payment, documents related to money or items of value that Wade and Willis may have exchanged, text messages and emails between the two, and their phone records.

The committee also requested any documents her office sent in response to requests from the U.S. House, as well as communications Willis and her office had with the White House, the U.S. Justice Department and the House relating to the 2020 presidential election. And they asked for documents related to federal grant money Willis' office has received.

Willis' lawyers — including former Democratic Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes — argued in a court filing that the subpoenas are "overbroad and not reasonably tailored to a legitimate legislative need" and that they "seek confidential and privileged information, as well as private and personal information that is not the legitimate target of a legislative subpoena."

They asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram to declare the subpoenas void because they fall outside of legislative subpoena power, because they were issued after the legislative session ended and because they violate the separation of powers provided for in the state Constitution. They also asked that the subpoenas be declared void because they seek privileged and confidential information. Finally, they asked that a judge permanently prohibit the committee members from pursuing or enforcing the subpoenas.

In the meantime, they have asked the judge to file a temporary restraining order to keep the committee from trying to enforce the subpoenas while she considers their petition.

Lawyers for the committee wrote in a filing that Willis used the wrong legal avenue to challenge her subpoenas, and that she should have filed a motion to quash them. They also noted that neither Willis nor her attorneys ever approached the committee to ask that the scope of the subpoenas be narrowed or to ask for more time to respond or a postponement of the committee hearing.

They argued that the subpoenas are well within the committee's authority and that they want to seek the court's help to enforce them, so they asked the judge not to issue a temporary restraining order.

Ingram indicated during a hearing Friday afternoon that she would rule as soon as possible. Either way, the fight over the subpoenas seems set to continue in court.