WASHINGTON — House Republicans took aim Thursday at the Georgia prosecutor bringing a sweeping felony racketeering case against former President Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, moving to investigate the woman pursuing the case just hours before Trump was to be booked at an Atlanta jail.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, announced he was opening an inquiry into Fani Willis, the Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney, questioning whether she had collaborated with Biden administration officials and targeting any federal funding her office receives.
Trump is charged with 13 felony counts in Georgia in an indictment that accuses him of engaging in a "criminal enterprise" that sought to overturn his 2020 election loss. Among the 18 other defendants in the case are his onetime personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and Trump's final White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who is also a former House Republican and close friend of Jordan's.
In a letter to Willis sent Thursday, Jordan accused her of carrying out a politically motivated prosecution.
"Turning first to the question of motivation, it is noteworthy that just four days before this indictment, you launched a new campaign fundraising website that highlighted your investigation into President Trump," he wrote.
Jordan said he was demanding all documents and communications among Willis' office and federal officials and any relating to the Fulton County District Attorney's Office's use of federal funds. A review of budget documents indicates that most of the office's funding comes from local government, though prosecutors' offices often receive at least some federal grant money.
Willis' office declined to comment.
It was the latest example of House Republicans allied with Trump using their power in Congress to try to derail efforts to prosecute him. After Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, filed charges against the former president over accusations that he falsified business records related to hush money paid to an adult film actress, Republicans promised to scrutinize the work of Bragg and held a field hearing in New York that aimed to blame him for crime in the city.
