By Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis tore into House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Thursday in a searing letter accusing the Ohio Republican of trying to obstruct her criminal prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
“There is no justification in the Constitution for Congress to interfere with a state criminal matter, as you attempt to do,” Willis wrote in the nine-page retort to Jordan, whose committee last month launched a probe into the district attorney’s prosecution of Trump.
Jordan, raising questions about whether Willis’ case is “politically motivated,” demanded in an Aug. 24 letter that she provide documents and communications between her office and the Department of Justice, among other information.
He sent the letter on the same day Trump traveled to Atlanta to surrender at the Fulton County Jail after a grand jury indicted Trump on charges of conspiring to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia in the 2020 election. Trump and his 18 co-defendants in the sprawling racketeering case have pleaded not guilty.
Willis on Thursday fired back that Jordan’s letter “contains inaccurate information and misleading statements.”
She wrote that “settled constitutional law clearly permits me to ignore your unjustified and illegal intrusion into an open state criminal prosecution” before launching into a multipage diatribe accusing Jordan of holding Trump to a lower standard of justice than any other defendant.
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“Here is another reality you must face: Those who wish to avoid felony charges in Fulton County, Georgia — including violations of Georgia RICO law — should not commit felonies in Fulton County, Georgia,” Willis wrote.
Willis’ letter was first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A spokesman for Jordan did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
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