Embattled Georgia prosector Fani Willis survived her primary election challenge Tuesday night, and will face off against a GOP challenger in November.
Willis, the District Attorney for Fulton County, is leading the sweeping 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump and has been the subject of scrutiny many Republicans in the state and nationwide for her affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, which almost got her removed from the case.
Willis on Tuesday defeated Democrat attorney Christian Wise Smith in a rematch of their race four years ago. In the county that in 2020 voted 73% for President Joe Biden, she was favored to win.
WIlis is currently under investigation by Republicans in both chambers of the U.S. congress and two commissions in the Georgia state legislature.
SENATE GOP PROBES TRUMP PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS’ OFFICE FOR ALLEGED ‘MISUSE’ OF FUNDS
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looks on during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on Wednesday accused Willis of allegedly misusing federal funds meant to help at-risk youth and gang prevention but that were used to purchase computers and “swag.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., subpoenaed Willis in February over the accusations of misusing federal funds.
But Willis says those investigations are predicated on “false reasons.”
“Jim Jordan has, time after time after time, attacked my office with no legitimate purpose,” Willis told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday. “Anyone who knows Jim Jordan’s history knows that he only has the purpose of trying to interfere in a criminal investigation.”
“All while his jurisdiction has one of the worst crime rates, has poverty issues, and not one time has he used his position to try to investigate people who are attacking me and attacking others legitimately doing their jobs,” she added. “Making him illegitimate in his position, and it’s disgusting. So I bring that up at the federal level because now at the state level, they have decided to follow this clown’s lead. And they want to now try to interfere in an investigation, and it’s not legitimate either.”
“They have decided in Georgia that they would like to come after me. They use false reasons for wanting to come after me,” Willis said during the media appearance.
Earlier this month, Georgia lawmakers heard testimony that caused one Republican senator to express concern that oversight of Willis’ $36.6 million budget is “like the Wild West, very little control.”
Scott McAfee, Fulton County superior court judge, at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024. (Photographer: Alyssa Pointer/Reuters/Bloomberg via Getty Images )
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee – who also faced a primary challenger on Tuesday – ruled in March that Willis could stay on the case as long as Nathan Wade, with whom she was accused of having an “improper” affair, quit.
But Trump and his co-defendants are appealing that ruling to the Georgia Court of Appeals, where they hope to get Willis disqualified from the case.
MEET FANI WILLIS’ GOP CHALLENGER FOR THE TOP PROSECUTOR JOB IN DEEP-BLUE GEORGIA
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks during a worship service at the Big Bethel AME Church, where she was invited as a guest speaker on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024, in Atlanta. (Miguel Martinez/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
The appeals court agreed to hear their bid. A hearing date has yet to be scheduled but could be as early as August or as late as 2025.
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Willis will now face Atlanta-based lawyer Courtney Kramer in the general election in November. She is the first Republican who has sought the office in more than two decades.
Fox News Digital’s Chris Pandolfo and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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