A group of Republicans in the Georgia State Senate are using a just-passed law designed to target allegedly “rogue” prosecutors to punish Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and have her feel “consequences” for what they are calling her “selective prosecution” of Donald Trump.
Trump is facing 13 felony charges, including racketeering, for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election in a prosecution Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp says is not unlawful or inappropriate.
The complaint filed by the Georgia Republicans “contends Willis ‘improperly cherry-picked cases to further her personal political agenda’ and asks the newly formed Prosecuting Attorneys Qualification Commission to initiate an investigation and take ‘appropriate measures’ to sanction her,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday. “The Republicans don’t specifically mention Trump in the complaint, but they sought to link a spate of deaths in the Fulton County Jail to Willis’ decision to ’empanel a special grand jury to investigate her political adversaries’ amid a yearslong backlog of cases.”
Governor Kemp, who supported the legislation to target certain prosecutors for punishment or sanction, “has repeatedly said there’s no evidence Willis should face any sanctions by the commission.”
“I haven’t seen anything that she has done that has broken the law or the procedures that we have. And I’ve been very honest with people about that,” Kemp said. “It may be a political action she’s taken in some ways, with timing and other things, but it doesn’t mean it’s illegal.”
Senators have gone as far as to ask their constituents to file complaints against Willis, who now operates under heightened security.
“Willis is often accompanied by armed guards at public appearances, and security at her office and her residence was increased,” The Washington Post had reported in August.
Georgia Democratic state Representative Dr. Michelle Au, a former state Senator, on Monday observed: “Puzzling that of the eight state senators filing a complaint to sanction the Fulton County District Attorney, not one of them actually represents any portion of Fulton County.”
Georgia Senate Republican Majority Leader Steve Gooch (photo) “said he’s still exploring other options to reprimand Willis, including legislative hearings that could scrutinize her use of public resources.”
”This complaint is just one of the tools at our disposal,” Gooch said, “and we won’t relent until she feels the consequences of her misplaced priorities.”