House Judiciary Republicans are accusing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) of “colluding” with the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, saying she asked the panel to share evidence with her — evidently making a similar request to one long ago made by the Justice Department.
The accusation comes after Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) kicked off a probe determined to find any coordination among the suite of prosecutors investigating former President Trump — conduct not addressed in his Tuesday letter.
Citing excerpts of a letter between Willis and former Jan. 6 committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Jordan’s letter says Willis asked for “records that may be relevant to our criminal investigation.”
“Specifically, you asked Rep. Thompson for access to records [including] but … not limited to recordings and transcripts of witness interviews and depositions, electronic and print records of communications, and records of travel,’” Jordan recapped.
In a letter to Willis inquiring about the correspondence, Jordan makes clear his committee is unaware “what records, if any, you obtained from your coordination with the partisan January 6 Select Committee.”
Still, he asks Willis as well as Thompson to turn over all their communications as well as any documents that were shared. A second letter to Thompson asks for more information, including a list of anyone the Jan. 6 committee deposed and a list of anyone with whom the committee shared transcripts or video recordings of the depositions.
The letter to Thompson, also signed by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), a subcommittee chair on the House Committee on Administration, comes after the Georgia lawmaker accused Thompson of failing to transfer all records.
“I have received Mr. Loudermilk’s letter, which, like his previous correspondence, contains significant factual errors. As I have said time and again, the Select Committee archived its official records in accordance with House rules. Only the Committee on House Administration is in possession of these records and Mr. Loudermilk is fully aware of this,” Thompsom said in a statement.
While Jordan highlights the contact between the two entities, it was clear while the committee was conducting its work that it had at least faced outreach from the Justice Department, which asked the Jan. 6 panel to share transcripts of some of its witness interviews.
Thompson initially rebuffed the request to share the panel’s work with the Department of Justice, though it ultimately shared some records months later while also sharing publicly the bulk of its transcripts and records as the committee dissolved.
Willis’s office did not respond to a request for comment but has engaged in a series of letters with Jordan bluntly telling him to stop interfering with her investigation into Trump and mirroring his own accusations by saying he was improperly inserting politics into her investigation by requesting information during an ongoing probe.