In a strongly worded, nine-page response letter, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis accused Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) of interfering with her case against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants, which alleges that their challenge of the 2020 election results constituted a “racketeering criminal enterprise.”
“Your attempt to interfere with and obstruction [sic] this office’s prosecution of state criminal cases is unconstitutional,” she wrote. “As you know, Chariman [sic] Jordan, the congressional power of inquiry ‘is not unlimited.'”
On Aug. 24, the same day President Trump turned himself in at the Fulton County Jail to be processed and released on $200,000 bond, Mr. Jordan, chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary, sent a five-page letter to Ms. Willis informing her of an investigation.
Ms. Willis argued in response that investigations meant to “punish” are indefensible, according to the letter, which was first obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Your letter offends each and every one of these settled principles. Its obvious purpose is to obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding and to advance outrageous partisan misrepresentations,” she wrote.
Ms. Willis argued that a House investigation would violate state sovereignty.
“The demands in your letter—and your efforts at intruding upon the State of Georgia’s criminal authority—violate constitutional principles of federalism,” she wrote, describing his actions as “flagrantly at odds with the Constitution.”
She made the argument that the defendants were charged “under state law with committing state crimes”—an argument that’s now being challenged with five of the defendants, including President Trump, attempting to remove their cases to federal court.
The congressman wasn’t available for a response by press time.
Investigation Letter
Mr. Jordan began his Aug. 24 letter by questioning whether Ms. Willis’s prosecution was politically motivated, pointing out that she opened a fundraising website right before the indictment and that local officials have publicly made statements about their dislike of President Trump, who’s campaigning to be the GOP nominee in the 2024 presidential election.
He then raised a concern about Ms. Willis’s overstepping her jurisdiction.
By Catherine Yang
