Georgia Republicans Find a Way to Punish Fani Willis

Georgia Republicans have found a way to probe Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis despite disagreement among lawmakers on how to investigate her.

A new Georgia Senate subcommittee is investigating the troubled conditions at the Fulton County Jail, with hearings expected to begin as early as next month. Willis is expected to be a focus of the probe as lawmakers question whether or not she used enough resources to prevent overcrowding in the jail where 10 inmates have died so far this year.

Willis has been the target of Republican attacks even before she announced the sweeping RICO indictment against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants in August for alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Many conservatives accused her of being politically motivated in pursuing those charges, and calls to remove her from office divided the state's GOP.

Newsweek reached out to Willis' office via email for comment.

Since the last presidential election, a number of Georgia Republicans have fallen out of favor with Trump, who harshly criticized those who spoke against his election fraud claims. Among those officials is Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who has refused calls from Trump allies in the state Senate to defund and impeach Willis.

Kemp said that while state law allows for the removal of local prosecutors, he did not think any of Willis' actions warranted such a move. His statements were echoed by Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns, who said the idea of defunding her office "outright violates" the separation of powers and called those efforts an "attempt to interfere with the criminal justice system."

Nonetheless, state Senator Colton Moore, who led the calls against Willis, was persistent that the governor should call the Georgia Legislature back into session to address the district attorney's conduct. Moore was ousted from the state GOP last month for what he believes is a "direct result" of his push for a Willis investigation.

"After urging my Republican Senate colleagues to join me...they responded by acting like children and throwing me out of the caucus," Moore previously told Newsweek in a statement.

The upcoming probe, however, is not aimed at Willis' indictment of Trump nor is it solely targeting the district attorney. The investigation into the Fulton County Jail, which was announced three months after the Department of Justice unveiled its own inquiry into the jail in July, is focused on the conditions and deaths at the jail.

An investigation by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that more than 60 people who were held at the jail or another facility operated by the county have died since 2009. When the DOJ announced its inquiry, Fulton Sheriff Patrick Labat said the "humanitarian crisis" at the jail is "not new."

"I have publicly, privately, and repeatedly raised concerns about the dangerous overcrowding, dilapidated infrastructure and critical staffing shortages at the jail," Labat said in a July 13 statement.

State Senator Jon Albers, the Republican who chairs the Senate Public Safety Committee and who will appoint the subcommittee looking into the jail, has also emphasized that concerns that have been raised about the jail's conditions in the past.

"When something has happened that's not being addressed, and we're having constituents come to us who have either had direct impact or have lost loved ones in jail, and we don't see action, we have to step in," Albers told Fox 5 Atlanta.

"This is something that needs to be addressed and it cannot wait," he said.

While Willis is not the core issue of the investigation, her critics have said the overcrowding at the jail is a result of her failure to indict and try defendants fast enough. Of the 3,500 people jailed at the end of August, 35 percent had yet to be indicted.

Willis has dismissed criticisms that her probe into Trump and his associates for election interference has not taken her attention away from these cases, saying "We can walk and chew gum at the same time."