Fulton County ethics board drops Fani Willis complaints from hearing

A Fulton County ethics watchdog slated to hear complaints against District Attorney Fani Willis (D) on Thursday will no longer do so, according to an updated meeting agenda.

The Fulton County Board of Ethics was expected to hear two complaints against Willis after her romance with a special prosecutor on the election interference case involving former President Trump raised concerns of a conflict of interest.

The board determined it does not have jurisdiction over Willis, who is a state constitutional officer in her role, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The Hill requested comment from the Board of Ethics’s secretary and the clerk to the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

Fulton County resident Steven Kramer filed one of the complaints, citing Willis’s relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade and questioning whether she improperly benefited from his hiring.

“The extra resources and financial costs for the court and the district attorney’s office, both paid for by Fulton County taxpayers like me, are to deal with this improper relationship,” Kramer wrote in his Feb. 14 complaint.

The other complaint was filed by internet-based talk show host Gregory Mantell, who claimed in a Substack post that Willis has violated “at least six sections and even more subsections” of the Fulton County Ethics Code.

The Ethics board inquiry was cheered on by national leaders such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who posted on social media last month that she was looking forward to the hearing.

A Republican-led state Senate committee also probed Willis’s relationship with Wade this week over allegations the district attorney misused taxpayer funds.

On Wednesday, the Georgia state Senate Special Committee on Investigations questioned Ashleigh Merchant, the defense attorney representing 2020 Trump campaign operative Michael Roman. Merchant first brought the romance to light in a January court filing. She detailed her investigation into the prosecutors Wednesday, revealing few new details but further thrusting the relationship into the spotlight.

The oversight hearing drew renewed attention to the district attorney’s relationship as the judge overseeing the 2020 election interference case weighs whether to disqualify Willis and her office from the historic prosecution.

Judge Scott McAfee said he expects to rule on the matter by the end of next week. The case could be thrown into limbo if he does boot Willis and the Fulton County district attorney’s office from it, as a local council would be tasked with picking a different district attorney’s office to take up the prosecution.

Trump and more than a dozen allies are accused of plotting to return the former president to the White House after he lost Georgia’s 2020 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 13 counts he faces.

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