ATLANTA — Just minutes after the Georgia state senate opened its investigation into allegations of impropriety against the Fulton County District Attorney, Channel 2′s Richard Elliot spoke one-on-one with Fani Willis while she was at the State Capitol on Wednesday.
Willis went to the capitol to qualify for reelection.
She told Elliot that the Senate investigation into her is politically motivated. Republicans on that committee insist they’re looking for the truth.
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“I think it’s all just a political quest. I think that people are angry because I’m going to do the right thing and I’m going to stand up for justice,” Willis said.
Just over an hour earlier, that investigative committee called its first witness – defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant – and asked her about her efforts to have Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade kicked off the case.
Speaking more freely than she could in court, Merchant insisted Willis and Wade’s relationship started before she hired him and that both were benefitting financially from the long trial.
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Afterward, Democrats on the committee condemned the entire investigation.
“The whole thing is just a travesty. It’s a shame that we’re going through this quite frankly. We ought to be talking about, as far as this capitol is concerned, things that actually matter to Georgia,” state Sen. Harold Jones, D – Augusta, said.
Committee chair state Sen. Bill Cowsert, R – Athens, thought they uncovered new evidence and once again invited Willis to testify voluntarily – or else.
“If we find it necessary to subpoena her, if she’s unwilling to come voluntarily, then we very well might,” Cowsert said.
Willis told Elliot that she’ll make that decision when she sees a subpoena.
“I will discuss that with my lawyer, and me and my lawyer will make a decision, and whatever decision he advises is best, I’ll make,” Willis said.
The Senate committee can’t really do anything to sanction Willis.
All it can do is determine if any state laws were broken, and then recommend changes to those laws, leading many Democrats to accuse the committee of being nothing more than a political show.
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