Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is responding to a letter House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan sent last month demanding materials from her investigation into Donald Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the week following her grand jury’s massive indictment of the ex-president and 18 alleged co-conspirators, and just hours before Trump traveled to Atlanta to turn himself in to be booked on 13 felony charges.
Chairman Jordan gave D.A. Willis a deadline of “Sept. 7 to provide all information about federal funding received by her office, documents or communications with the Justice Department and particularly Special Counsel Jack Smith and any documents or communications with the White House regarding the investigation of Trump or 18 other codefendants,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported at the time.
“Your letter makes clear that you lack a basic understanding of the law, its practice and the ethical obligations of attorneys generally and prosecutors specifically,” Willis told Jordan in her Thursday letter, also published by the paper. Jordan has a law degree but says he never took the bar exam.
At one point in her letter Willis tells Jordan, “For a more thorough understanding of Georgia’s RICO statute, its application and similar laws in other states, I encourage you to read ‘RICO State-by-State.’ As a non-member of the bar, you can purchase a copy for two hundred forty-nine dollars [$249].”
Calling his questions “misinformed,” she warned, “there is no justification in the Constitution for Congress to interfere with a state criminal matter, as you attempt to do.”
Willis told Jordan his letter to her contained “inaccurate information and misleading statements,” “offends principles of state sovereignty,” “violate[s] constitutional principles of federalism,” “transgresses separation of powers principles,” and “improperly interferes with the administration of criminal justice.”
“Your notion that different standards of justice should apply to a select group of people is offensive,” Willis adds. “Trump’s status as a political candidate cannot make him legally immune from criminal prosecution.”
“Face this reality, Chairman Jordan: the select group of defendants who you fret over in my jurisdiction are like every other defendant, entitled to no worse or better treatment than any other American citizen,” she wrote.
“Here is another reality you must face: Those who wish to avoid felony charges in Fulton County, Georgia — including violations of Georgia RICO law — should not commit felonies in Fulton County, Georgia.”
Willis closes by suggesting Jordan ask the Dept. of Justice to “investigate the racist threats that have come to my staff and me because of this investigation.”