ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate is poised to conduct investigative hearings into the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The majority Republican senate said it aims to use power rarely used at the state level, targeting Willis, who is prosecuting former president Donald Trump.
Congress routinely conducts politically charged investigations. Now, Senate Republicans at the state capitol claim they are overdue to do much the same thing targeting the Fulton DA.
Because the state government sends about $3 million a year to help fund the Fulton County district attorney’s office, Republican Greg Dolezal said that’s reason enough to investigate how the DA is spending tax dollars.
"The general assembly historically has perhaps not used its investigative authority as much as they should, in my opinion," Dolezal told 11Alive News Tuesday.
Dolezal wants to use that authority to examine Fulton County’s election interference prosecution of former president Donald Trump.
DA Fani Willis hired special prosecutor Nathan Wade to handle it. Willis hasn’t answered an allegation made in a court filing that she has a personal relationship with Wade. However, records show Fulton County has paid Wade’s firm $653,880.60 for his services.
"There are serious allegations out there as to whether this is prosecution for profit or there is some sort of inherent conflict of interest in the ongoing prosecution in Fulton County," Dolezal said.
Meanwhile, Democrats claim a Republican-led senate investigation into Willis, who is a Democrat, would be a political exercise in an election year – in an effort to undermine Fulton County’s criminal case against Trump.
'It smacks of McCarthyism," said Sen. Jason Estevez (D-Atlanta). "It’s certainly overreach. And I think the Republicans feel like this is some sort of payback or retribution for what Fani Willis has done" in the Trump case.
The resolution has enough cosponsors to pass the Senate. The investigative committee into Fani Willis would include a handful of Democrats -- but would do the bidding of its Republican majority.