Georgia Democrat Prosecutor Has Been Slapped Down By Two Courts Now — But It’s Not Enough

Federalist:
By: Margot Cleveland

Two courts are limiting Georgia county prosecutor Fani Willis’s use of a special grand jury to interrogate Republicans about the 2020 election, but the Fulton County Democrat’s political witch hunt continues with subpoenas still outstanding targeting Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and top GOP lawyers.

In January 2022, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sought authorization of a “special purpose grand jury” to investigate “any coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections in this state.” On May 2, 2022, the special purpose grand jury was selected and sworn in, and then in June, it began receiving evidence. In early July, news broke that Willis had obtained permission to subpoena several of Trump’s election lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Cleta Mitchell, and Kenneth Chesebro, as well as Graham and attorney and podcast host Jacki Pick Deason.

From the start, Willis’s empaneling of a special purpose grand jury had the stench of a political hit job, with the prosecutor not seeking indictments but merely a report and recommendations. Then came her public targeting of high-profile names in the Republican world and her false framing that Trump’s lawyers “parroted claims of voter fraud” during a conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The transcript of that January 2, 2021, telephone call between Trump, his legal team, and Raffensperger’s office, however, contradicts Willis’s claim and also established that Trump did not ask Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes during the call. Rather, Trump’s legal team wanted the secretary of state’s office to investigate some 30-plus categories of violations of Georgia election law.

In addition to the nationally known names, Willis targeted many top Georgia Republicans including state Sen. Burt Jones, who is the current Republican candidate for the 2022 general election for lieutenant governor. On Monday, however, a Fulton County judge held that “this District Attorney and her special prosecution team may no longer investigate Senator Jones” and may not subpoena him or obtain any records from him via subpoena. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney further held that Willis and her special prosecution team “may not publicly categorize [Jones] as a subject or target (or anything else) of the grand jury’s investigation, and they may not ask the grand jury to include any recommendations about him in their final report.” 

McBurney barred Willis and her special prosecution team from investigating Jones because on June 14, 2022, “well after the grand jury had begun receiving evidence from witnesses called and examined by the District Attorney’s team of prosecutors, the District Attorney hosted and headlined a fundraiser for [Charlie] Bailey.” At the time, Bailey was in a run-off contest to be the Democrat nominee for lieutenant governor to run against Jones in the November 2022 general election. more here