Georgia
Georgia Senate panel ready to subpoena Fulton DA in probe of her conduct in Trump racketeering case • Georgia Recorder
The chairman of a Georgia Senate committee says he will subpoena Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis if she refuses to appear before the panel that is investigating accusations of misconduct against the prosecutor pursuing felony charges against former President Donald Trump and his allies.
On Friday, Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts, Chief Financial Officer Sharon Whitmore, and County Attorney Soo Jo testified at a four-hour committee hearing at the Georgia State Capitol about the degree of autonomy constitutional officers like district attorneys have, as well as recent changes county officials have made to close ethical and financial reporting loopholes for those elected officials.
The county officials said on Friday that they updated a county code in April to close loopholes that allowed Willis to avoid getting county approval before hiring Nathan Wade in November 2021 as special prosecutor in the 2020 presidential election interference case.
Willis has dealt with a hit to her public image since January after it was revealed that she had a romantic relationship with Wade while he led a case that in August resulted in felony racketeering charges against Trump and 18 co-defendants, who are accused of trying to illegally overturn the 2020 election.
Athens Republican Sen. Bill Cowsert, chairman of the special investigation panel, said on Friday he hopes Willis will appear voluntarily before a state Senate panel that is investigating allegations that Willis committed prosecutorial and financial misconduct.
Willis cannot be sanctioned by the Senate committee, but it can subpoena her to turn over evidence and to testify under oath. Former Gov. Roy Barnes, who declined Willis’ offer to serve as special prosecutor in 2021 in the case against Trump,, attended Friday’s hearing with plans to serve as legal counsel for Willis if she is subpoenaed.
“She’s a key part of the investigation that her viewpoints are valued by us,” Cowsert said. “We need to hear what she has to say and her explanation of what she thinks are the appropriate rules ought to be going forward so we don’t have this kind of scandal give Georgia a black eye.”
The first public accusations that Willis and Wade were romantically linked became public in January in a motion filed by an attorney for Trump co-defendant, Michael Roman, who argued that Wade and Willis’s undisclosed relationship was used to improperly financially benefit by prosecuting the sweeping election interference case.
In April, the Fulton County Commission updated its ethics and anti-nepotism policies to cover elected officials like the district attorney. Under the new rules, all constitutional officers must report any gifts valued at $100 on their financial disclosures. Willis would have been prohibited from having a personal relationship with someone she supervises under the expanded anti-nepotism policy.
Cowsert asked Fulton County Attorney Soo Jo if she agreed with his interpretation of the state law, which would seem to imply that Willis would need permission from the County Commission in order to hire an independent contractor such as Wade.
According to Jo, previous court rulings have interpreted the law as allowing district attorneys to appoint and determine compensation for special assistant district attorneys without the county board’s consent.
According to Jo, disputes over finances and control usually turn into a tug-of-war between constitutional offices and local elected officials, who set the budget but must also cover shortfalls and legal ramifications.
“I do believe there are some practical and legal challenges for all counties and elected officials who are in and in between state where you have independence, but you depend on the county for finances,” Jo said.
Cowsert on Friday recommended state legislators consider implementing a statewide policy that addresses tensions between county commissioners and constitutional officers over how much discretion and autonomy they should have.
“We need to have a state law that provides ethical guidelines for prosecutors, for sheriff’s, for clerks of court, for tax commissioners,” Cowsert said. “They are not county officers, but they need to have accepted norms of conduct and ethical guidelines. It’s our job in the state government to come up with that from the state level.”
Pitts said that the Fulton commission should be able to have more control since the board sets the multimillion dollar budgets.
Pitts said that he agrees with prosecutors having the right to determine which cases their office will prosecute, including sweeping racketeering cases like the one Willis is pressing against Trump and his co-defendants. However, he said, he believes that the county officials who set the budget should have similar financial control over elected officials like the sheriff, district attorney. tax commissioner, probate court judge and superior court clerks as they have with other local departments.
Pitts said that he and other county commissioners were unaware of Willis hiring Wade until it was reported by local media.
“We give millions of dollars and I think as an elected official with a fiduciary responsibility that I should have the right to know how the money is being spent,” Pitts said following Friday’s committee hearing.
Willis told a crowd at a community outreach event in Atlanta on Friday that she finds it interesting that the Republican majority Senate is attacking her credibility at a time when more Black people like herself are being elected as district attorneys in Georgia.
This year, Willis is seeking a second term as district attorney. Her biggest challenge will be in the May 21 Democratic Party primary when she faces Christian Wise Smith, a Democrat who’s served as Atlanta city solicitor and as a Fulton County prosecutor. The winner of the Democratic primary will have a significant advantage in the November 5 general election in a match up against Courtney Kramer, a self-described MAGA attorney who has worked in the Trump White House. Kramer faces an uphill battle in heavily Democratic Fulton.
Willis said prosecutors and law enforcement have been working closely as part of an increased emphasis on locking up violent criminals and outreach programs that led to a significant drop in Atlanta’s crime rate this year.
“They can look all they want,” Willis said in a video footage taken by several Atlanta news outlets on Friday. “The DA’s office has done everything according to the books. We are following the law.”
“I can prosecute high profile cases and I can prosecute every day cases when they need to be prosecuted,” Willis later said.
The scandal surrounding Wade and Willis relationship garnered national headlines as hundreds of thousands of people watched live streams of Wade and Willis testifying at a February hearing on motions from Trump and co-defendants seeking to disqualify Willis from the election interference case on grounds of prosecutorial misconduct.
Willis has denied any allegations of professional misconduct and misappropriation of government money. Both Wade and Willis testified during a February Superior Court hearing that they did not become romantically involved until several months after Wade was hired as a special prosecutor in November 2022 and that they stopped dating in the following summer.
But critics of Willis not disclosing having a personal relationship have accused the two of taking advantage of Wade being paid about $750,000 by Fulton by splurging on vacations that included a Caribbean cruise and touring wineries in California. To cover her share of vacation expenses, Willis testified that she paid Wade several thousand dollars in cash in order to cover her share of vacation expenses.
Four of the co-defendants pleaded guilty to various charges in the case, while Trump and the remaining 14 defendants have pleaded not guilty.
A Georgia Court of Appeals is expected to render a ruling by May 13 whether to grant a motion byTrump and several of his co-defendants asking the court to review Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to allow Willis to remain on the case following Wade’s resignation. In the March 3 ruling, McAfee wrote that Willis actions showed a tremendous lapse in judgment, however the defense was unable to prove there was conflict of interest that warranted dismissing the case.
Sen. Harold Jones, an Augusta Democrat, said that Friday’s lengthy committee meeting was a waste of time, arguing Fulton’s government website and a few follow up questions could have answered a most of the senator’s questions.
“There’s nothing that you learned as far as the state senate committee is concerned except maybe now we’re about to start having constitutional officers just change the way they do their budget, a process that has been in effect for over 30 years,” Jones said. “I want all constitutional officers to realize that apparently the Georgia State Senate is about to change the law because of one event to happen in Fulton County,” Jones said.
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Georgia
With voting over, Georgia’s election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene could be test of Trump’s influence
Polls have closed in the Georgia 14th Congressional District special election to elect who will replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress.
The seat has been vacant since January, when Greene resigned following a monthslong public fight with President Trump over foreign policy issues and the release of documents involving the Jeffrey Epstein case. A week before she announced her plans to resign, Mr. Trump said he would support a primary challenge against her.
Twenty-two candidates filed to run for the seat, but the number dropped to 17 candidates — 12 Republicans, three Democrats, one Libertarian, and one independent — all of whom appeared on Tuesday’s ballot.
Among the top candidates are former District Attorney Clay Fuller, who was endorsed by Mr. Trump, former Republican state Sen. Colton Moore, and Democrat Shawn Harris, a retired Army brigadier general who lost to Greene in the 2024 race for the seat.
Harris has raised more than $4.3 million for the race, with about $290,000 in the bank.
Greene has declined to endorse anyone in the race.
Georgia voters enthusiastic to choose their representative
Voters in Rome, Georgia, said they expect to return and vote in what is likely to be a runoff election because of the number of candidates.
“Too many people that think they’re politicians — some I know personally that has no experience, that, you know, Washington would just swallow them up like it does most people,” one voter said.
“What I look for in a candidate is tell me your policies. That’s the problem that I have with both sides today,” another voter said. “They attack each other, they hate each other, and they don’t ever get around to telling you what their actual policies are.”
Despite voters saying they planned to return to the ballot box, Floyd County Republican Vice Chair David Guldenschuh said the complicated schedule had party heads worried.
“There’s real fatigue out there, and I sense and feel for them,” he said.
Still, Guldenschuh said he doesn’t feel like the crowded field would hurt the GOP’s chance to hold the seat that Greene once occupied.
“I think that, you know, we have an unusual situation here. We all appreciated and loved Marjorie. And when she and Trump had the falling out, we still supported both here in this district, even though they weren’t getting along very well. And still are, as I understand,” he said. So I do know that this district is very solid conservative, and from Floyd County north, it’s really conservative. So I don’t see a big change going on now.”
Vincent Mendes, the chair of the county’s Democratic Party, expected Harris to get to the runoff, but said it would take effort to flip the seat.
“We will have to work our butts off to make him win if he gets to a runoff, but that’s how we should treat every single election,” Mendes said.
A local race with national implications
CBS News Political Director Fin Gómez said this special election is about more than just one seat in Congress. It’s being watched by politicians across the state and around the nation as an early indicator of where the Republican Party and its voters stand right now.
Gómez said this race could offer one of the first real tests of Mr. Trump’s influence within the party, with the president throwing his support behind Fuller.
The results could show whether the Republican base is still fully aligned with him after his rift with Greene.
The key question, according to Gómez: Does the president still have the influence that he did back in 2024?
“I do think that if Clay Fuller does well, even if he doesn’t clear the threshold that’s needed to avoid a runoff, I think that bodes well for the president, because that means Republican voters are still adhering to what the president says, and it shows the influence that that the president still has on the Republican Party, including in northwest Georgia,” he told CBS News Atlanta.
If another candidate, such as Moore, pulls off a win, it could signal the Republican base isn’t always following the president’s lead.
“If Fuller does not when I think it would surprise a lot of the Trump faithful who really adhere to who he supports in these type of elections, but if, let’s say, if it doesn’t go Fuller’s way and Moore picks off this win, I think what you are seeing is that the base might be a little more unpredictable, similar to what we saw perhaps in 2010.”
Special election marks start of busy campaign stretch
With how crowded the field is, it is very likely that this will be only the first step to choosing Greene’s replacement. Georgia’s special election rules require a candidate to win a majority of votes. If that threshold is not met, the top two candidates will go on to the April 7 runoff.
Whoever eventually wins the seat will serve out the rest of Greene’s term — a relatively short time in office. If they want to remain in the seat, they’ll have to run again in the May 19 party primaries. That race could possibly go to a party runoff, which would take place on June 16. The winners of the primaries will advance to the general election in November.
Last week, 10 Republicans, including Fuller and Moore, qualified to run in November’s election for a full two-year term. Harris also qualified, the sole Democrat who did in what has been rated as the most Republican-leaning district in Georgia by the Cook Political Report.
Mr. Trump carried the 14th Congressional District with 68% of the vote in the 2024 election, with Greene receiving over 64%. Republicans want that rightward trend to continue in the district. Democrats are hoping that the potential GOP infighting and crowded field could help them secure a surprise electoral win, shrinking the already-narrow margins in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Republicans currently control 218 House seats to the Democrats’ 214.
People cheer for President Trump en route to his speaking engagement at the Coosa Steel Corporation on Feb. 19 in Rome, Ga. Trump delivered remarks on the economy and affordability as the state started voting to replace the seat vacated by former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
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ATLANTA — Voters in Northwest Georgia are choosing who should replace former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Voting closes in the district’s special election on Tuesday night.
The election will test the weight of President Trump’s endorsement of one of the candidates in a crowded race. Some voters say the president’s choice is not who they think would best support the conservative MAGA movement championed by both Trump and Greene.
Greene resigned at the beginning of this year, leaving Georgia’s 14th Congressional District without representation in Congress — and slimming the GOP’s majority in the House — following a bitter split with Trump.
Greene rose to prominence over five years in office as a strong ally of Trump, bombastically attacking critics and pushing the MAGA movement’s “America First” policy. Yet the two had a very public clash after she pushed for the release of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Greene has also been sharply critical of Trump’s actions abroad, saying he has strayed from his promises to focus domestically.
With Trump now in the second year of his second term, other high-profile spats with key parts of his MAGA coalition have erupted over his administration’s handling of other issues, including sweeping tariffs, immigration policy and more. More recently, rifts have emerged over the war with Iran.
Some, like Greene, argue that though Trump helped create the “America First” worldview, he is not the sole arbiter of what it looks like.
Most of the GOP candidates in the special election have said they want to focus on Trump’s priorities and the concerns of their district, rather than become headlines themselves — an approach they say Greene embraced in her public disputes with Democrats and even with members of her own party.
“The difference between Marjorie and I is I will not use the press to become a celebrity,” Republican Star Black said during a candidate forum on Feb. 16. “I will use the press to actually show what I have done — the accomplishments,”
Trump has endorsed Clay Fuller, a district attorney in northwest Georgia for the state’s Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. He emphasized his support last month during a visit to Rome, part of the state’s 14th District, where he held a rally to tout his administration’s economic policy.
Fuller called himself a “MAGA warrior” at the event.
Republican congressional candidate Clay Fuller (left) shakes hands with President Trump as he arrives on Air Force One at Russell Regional Airport on Feb. 19 in Rome, Ga.
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“I really like him,” said rally attendee Jill Fisher. “I think he’s a strong candidate, seems like a very nice family man with some great values. And I think he’ll add a lot to Congress.”
Highlighting Fuller’s military service as an Air Force veteran, an ad for his campaign says, ” ‘America First’ is the story of his life.”
Fuller faces several other GOP candidates in the primary, including former state Sen. Colton Moore. Moore won elections for the state Legislature in the district before and is considered one of the most right-leaning lawmakers at the state level.
“I’m 100% pro-Trump,” Moore declared in his campaign announcement video.
He’s made a few headlines of his own. Last year, Moore was arrested for attempting to enter the House chambers in Atlanta to attend the State of the State address by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp. Moore argued he had a constitutional right to enter the chamber. Moore had been banned from entering the chambers by the state’s Republican House Speaker Jon Burns for disparaging comments he made about a late Georgia lawmaker at his portrait unveiling.
Moore’s record matters for some GOP voters even more than Trump’s endorsement. Less Dunaway, 14th district voter, says he’s a strong supporter of Trump, but thinks Moore will do a better job carrying out the president’s agenda than Trump’s own pick.
“He actually knows what he’s doing,” Dunaway said of Moore. “He was a state representative, a state senator. He was the first one to fight the people over the 2020 election in Georgia.”
Moore was one of a group of GOP state lawmakers who called on lawmakers to investigate or impeach Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after she charged Trump and others with trying to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, when Trump and his allies pushed baseless claims of widespread election fraud.
Fuller insists Trump made the right choice in supporting his bid.
“I think they’re looking for someone to carry President Trump’s banner, support his agenda, and fight for him on Capitol Hill,” Fuller told Georgia Public Broadcasting last month.
Still some Republicans who attended the February rally left undecided.
“I don’t just blindly follow what [Trump] says,” said Clay Cooper of Rome.
Still, Cooper said that Trump’s endorsement means he will give Fuller more thought. “[Fuller is] someone that [Trump] thinks aligns very much with his messaging, with his actions, so that certainly weighs in,” Cooper said.
Unlike a partisan primary, all the candidates — Republicans, Democrats and third party candidates — will be on the same ballot for voters in the special election. If no one gets over 50% of the vote, the two top vote-getters regardless of party will advance to a runoff on April 7.
Follow the results below as polls close on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.
NPR’s Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.
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