ATLANTA (AP) — A special Georgia state Senate committee that had subpoenaed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis with plans to question her Friday about “alleged misconduct” related to her election case against former President Donald Trump was unable to do so because she didn’t show up.
The Republican-led committee was formed earlier this year to look into allegations of “various forms of misconduct” against Willis, an elected Democrat, with regard to her prosecution of Trump and others over their efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. The committee last month sent subpoenas to Willis ordering her to appear and to produce piles of documents.
Willis last week filed a petition asking a judge to declare the subpoenas void and to keep the committee from enforcing them, but that challenge wasn’t heard before Friday’s hearing. Her campaign sent out an email Friday inviting supporters to a fundraising reception in Washington that afternoon.
In Willis’ absence, the committee heard from a lawyer in the office of legislative counsel and a former secretary of the state Senate, both of whom said the committee does have the power to use subpoenas to compel witnesses to appear and to produce documents.
Committee chairman Sen. Bill Cowsert noted at the beginning of the hearing that Willis was not present. As it drew to a close, he asked a staffer to check the hallway outside the committee room in the state Capitol to make sure she wasn’t waiting out there.