Fulton County DA Fani Willis defends 2020 election subversion case in testimony to Georgia Senate

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis defended her prosecution of President Donald Trump and his allies Wednesday during a three-hour-long hearing in front of the Georgia state Senate. 

The Senate Special Committee on Investigation has been warring with Willis over a subpoena first issued in 2024, and the hearing comes after the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments over Willis' challenge to the subpoena last week.

Willis had attempted in 2023 to prosecute Trump and 18 of his allies in the state on racketeering charges for allegedly attempting to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. The district attorney said Wednesday that she stands by her attempt to prosecute the group.

“I know you are somewhat offended that I had the audacity to prosecute these folks that came into my county and committed crimes,” Willis told the panel. “But this wasn’t special to me. This was another day of business.” 

“These 19 people deserved to be indicted,” she later said, according to The Hill. “And they were.” 

Willis also admitted during the hearing that she did not interview her former boyfriend Nathan Wade before entering office and hiring him to help prosecute Trump and his allies, noting that he had a “thriving law practice." 

The Georgian also said Wade and other special prosecutors were brought onto the case because her office was “drowning” because her most qualified lawyers were on other major projects and her remaining team was not qualified to take on the high-profile prosecution. 

The testimony comes after Willis was disqualified from prosecuting the case because of her relationship with Wade. Prosecuting Attorney's Council of Georgia Executive Director Peter Skandalakis took over the case from Willis but filed a motion to dismiss the case last month, which was approved by Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.