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Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appeared before a special Georgia Senate committee on Wednesday to defend her prosecution of President Donald Trump. She directly confronted Republican criticism, defended her actions, and denounced her dismissal from the case as politically motivated.
Who is Fani Willis?
Willis is currently serving as Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney. She was previously part of the prosecution against Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss in Georgia during the 2020 election. Willis was dismissed from the case over allegations of misconduct, and the case was dropped by a judge in November 2025.
On Wednesday, Willis appeared in front of a special Georgia Senate committee after over a year of legal arguments. She denied deciding she was going to prosecute Trump, highlighted the amount of work the case had required, called out potential electoral self-interest held by Republicans, and called out the fact that her home was swatted several times, as well as being called the N-word.
What were the allegations of misconduct against Fani Willis?
In January 2024, a Senate Special Committee on Investigations was created to look into allegations of misconduct against Willis. She hired special prosecutor Nathan Wade to lead the case, which a defense attorney alleged came from an improper romantic relationship between Willis and Wade.
Both previously testified about the details of their relationship and denied that it had constituted a conflict of interest, CBS News reported. Willis said on Wednesday that she hired Wade because they were “drowning” in other cases.
“Every lawyer I had with that level of experience had a huge project,” she said.
Willis added that the amount of work required had been “huge” and that around nine attorneys worked on the case at the time.
“It was lots of witnesses, a lot of work was put into this,” Willis said. “I always want to make sure I’m a fair DA.”
She described the office as being “absolute chaos” when she became Fulton County DA, with so many boxes that some office doors couldn’t be opened.
“There were 18,000 unindicted cases that went back six to seven years that I was looking at. Not to mention another 10,000 in the system … the office was in absolute chaos,” Willis said, according to CBS News.
Yet she was removed from the case last year, as the Georgia Court of Appeals cited an “appearance of impropriety” arising from Willis and Wade’s relationship. Her appeal to the state Supreme Court in September was denied.
Willis criticized prioritizing scrutiny of her relationship with Wade over more serious incidents, including being called the n-word and having her home swatted multiple times.
“You want to investigate something? Investigate how many times they called me the n-word. Investigate them writing on my house, how many times my house has been swatted,” she said on Wednesday.
During the long hearing, which lasted for four hours, Willis made it clear that she will not be intimidated.
“I’m not Marjorie Taylor Greene. I ain’t going to quit in a month because somebody threatens me,” she said. “I took an oath to do the right thing. People came into my community and committed a crime, and I indicted them.”
Fani Willis said members of the committee’s ‘real purpose is to try to get elected’
In November, Willis was replaced by the Executive Director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, Peter J. Skandalakis, to lead the case. He filed a motion to abandon the prosecution days later, and a Fulton County Superior Court judge eventually dismissed the case on Nov. 26.
Willis accused Republican committee members of attacking her for political gain, saying, “Your real purpose is to try to get elected.”
Four of the five Republicans on the committee are running for office in 2026. Chairman Bill Cowsert is running for attorney general, while Senators Greg Dolezal of Cumming, Blake Tillery of Vidalia and Steve Gooch of Dahlonega are looking to obtain the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. John Kennedy of Macon, another Republican who previously served on the committee, resigned on Dec. 8 to pursue his bid for lieutenant governor.
At another point in the meeting, Willis said she didn’t recall the House committee sending her documents to help with the case. She added that previous meetings with Biden administration officials were to request documents and testimony from the federal government.
“The reality is that I brought forth an indictment because people came in my county, they committed a crime, and they got charged,” Willis said, per CBS News. “They didn’t get charged because of their race. They didn’t get charged because of their political party. They got charged because they came to my county and committed a crime.”
