A judge overseeing the Fulton County special grand jury inquiry into the 2020 election and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results in Georgia tore into District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday for helping to fundraise against a target of her investigation.
At issue was Willis participating in a fundraiser for Democratic lieutenant governor hopeful Charlie Bailey in June, a rival to Republican Burt Jones, who has been informed he is a criminal target of the Fulton County district attorney’s investigation. Noting poor optics, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney criticized Willis but refrained from ruling on whether she should be removed from that aspect of the inquiry.
“I don’t know that it’s an actual conflict, but … it’s a ‘what are you thinking’ moment,” McBurney said during a hearing Thursday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. “If we’re trying to maintain confidence that this investigation is pursuing facts in a nonpartisan sense … that strikes me as problematic.”
Lawyers for Jones reportedly claimed the June fundraiser Willis attended reaped $32,000 for his Democratic rival and implored the judge to order the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office to appoint another prosecutor to the case to question him. They were in court Thursday for a hearing on a motion filed to disqualify Willis over the fundraiser.
via joemiller