Fani Willis, the District Attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, has been in the spotlight ever since she decided to prosecute former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants.
Her office is now facing an investigation on credible allegations by a whistleblower that it misused federal funds, according to a report from The Washington Free Beacon.
The allegations have caught the attention of Republican Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who penned a letter to Willis demanding information about her office’s alleged misuse of federal grant funds.
In their letter, they expressed concern about the alleged discrepancy between the purpose of the federal award of taxpayer money and its actual use by Willis’ office.
They emphasized that “the waste or misuse of taxpayer funds is unacceptable.
The Free Beacon’s own investigation discovered instances where Willis used federal grants to purchase computers and pay for travel.
For example, the Justice Department granted $2 million to the Atlanta Police Department in 2020 to help clear its rape kit backlog.
County records show that Willis’ office pulled nearly $13,000 from that grant to purchase computers and spent an additional $27,000 on airfare, hotels, and car rentals.
The investigation into the alleged misuse of federal funds comes as an appeals court will hear an appeal from Trump’s attorneys seeking to have Willis removed from the case.
The former president’s legal team has informed the Fulton County Superior Court that they will formally appeal the court’s previous ruling allowing District Attorney Fani Willis to remain on her RICO case against him and 18 others alleging interference in the 2020 election.
The issue began in early January when former White House staff member Michael Roman filed a motion seeking to disqualify DA Willis from prosecuting the case against Trump and his co-defendants.
The motion alleged that Willis had an “improper” relationship with then-Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade and claimed that she financially benefited from both the investigation and the relationship.
On March 15, Judge Scott McAfee ruled that Trump and his co-defendants “failed to meet their burden” of proving that the romantic relationship between Willis and Wade constituted a “conflict of interest” or that Willis benefited from it.
However, McAfee acknowledged a “significant appearance of impropriety” and decided that either Willis or Wade would need to step aside for the case to proceed in Fulton County.
A few hours later, Wade resigned.
On March 29, attorneys for Trump and his co-defendants filed an application for an interlocutory appeal, arguing that Wade’s departure did not resolve the appearance of impropriety and had “cast a pall over these entire proceedings.” On May 8, the Georgia Court of Appeals agreed to hear the appeal.
Meanwhile, Harrison Lloyd, a former leader of the Black Voices for Trump coalition, was granted a certificate of immediate review by District Judge Scott McAfee earlier this month.
This allows Lloyd to request a review by the Georgia Court of Appeals.
The McAfee decision is unexpected because it goes against earlier decisions invalidating procedural motions to prevent Willis from pursuing specific crimes.
McAfee wrote that he was willing to entertain Lloyd’s argument that Willis’ “election-related” investigation was beyond her jurisdiction.
This case continues to unfold, with more developments expected in the coming weeks and months.