Fani Willis under fire for claiming racial bias over Georgia prosecutorial oversight panel proposal

ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis stirred controversy by suggesting that Georgia's proposed prosecutorial oversight panel is racially motivated.

"Georgia had never had a prosecutorial oversight committee," Willis remarked during an interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. "All of a sudden, 14 minorities were elected to office to serve as district attorneys. And now all of a sudden they need an oversight committee to look after district attorneys because they want to tell us how to prosecute and who to prosecute and where we should put our resources, as opposed to allowing the voters that put us in the seats to make those determinations."

Fani Willis faces potential investigation by Georgia's new oversight panel

The new oversight panel, approved by the Republican-dominated state legislature and signed into law by GOP Governor Brian Kemp in March, grants authority to discipline and remove prosecutors found guilty of misconduct. Willis, currently under scrutiny by the Georgia state Senate over her expenditure of taxpayer funds during her association with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade, could face investigation by the new body for the same allegations and other aspects of her handling of the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

"They use false reasons for wanting to come after me," Willis asserted. "What is so ironic is, although it’s only 14 of the 50 DAs in the state of Georgia, most of the citizens report to our jurisdictions, so, although we’re smaller in number than the other 36, most of the population has elected these minority DAs to serve them and has trusted their judgment," Willis said. "But apparently we now need Daddy to tell us how to do our job."

Fani Willis lambasts Jim Jordan's alleged interference in congressional probe

Additionally, Willis criticized House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who subpoenaed her in February over allegations of mismanagement of federal funds.

"Jim Jordan has time after time after time attacked my office with no legitimate purpose," she claimed. "Anyone who knows Jim Jordan’s history knows that he only has the purpose of trying to interfere in a criminal investigation."

"He has now turned his tricks to he’s going to look at grant programs — which I invite him to do — and we have complied with his subpoenas. But yet he continues his attacks to try to interfere in a criminal investigation – all while his jurisdiction has one of the worst crime rates, has poverty issues, and not one time has he used his position to try to investigate people who are attacking me and attacking others legitimately doing their job — making him illegitimate in his position." “It’s disgusting,” Willis stated of the congressional probe, “Now at the state level, they’ve decided to follow this clown’s lead.”

The Georgia State Senate special investigation panel convened its third public hearing related to the Willis probe earlier this month. The hearing scrutinized the amount of money the DA’s office expended prosecuting the landmark racketeering case against Trump and his co-defendants, as well as the lack of oversight from other government entities over the district attorney’s office. Willis has refused to appear before the panel, questioning the state lawmakers' authority to subpoena her.

Netizens slam Fani Willis' race card accusation

A user tweeted, "When you got nothing real to say you can always play your race card." Another added, "Always race card excuse." "It's more motivated by abuse of one's office," read a tweet. 

"I disagree. Fraud isn’t racially predictable," said a user. "Sounds to me like Fani is bringing the judiciary proceedings into disrepute!" chimed another. "Gosh, what a novel and carefully-considered accusation," said a user.

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