Jordan subpoenas Willis on federal grant spending

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has subpoenaed Fulton County (Ga.) District Attorney Fani Willis for information on spending of federal funds by her office, intensifying a fight between the Democratic prosecutor and congressional Republicans seeking information about her investigation into former President Trump.

The letter focuses on whistleblower allegations only reported so far by conservative media.

The allegations center on a former employee to Willis who said the district attorney fired her shortly after she raised concerns about how a Willis campaign aide-turned county employee hoped to use federal grants for items outside the scope of a youth violence gang and prevention program.

It’s not clear that the federal funds in question were ultimately spent inappropriately. According to LinkedIn, neither the whistleblower nor the aide are currently employed with Willis’s office.

Willis’s office on Friday morning denied any federal funds were improperly spent.

“These false allegations are included in baseless litigation filed by a holdover employee from the previous administration who was terminated for cause. The courts that have ruled found no merit in these claims. We expect the same result in any pending litigation. Any examination of the records of our grant programs will find that they are highly effective and conducted in cooperation with the Department of Justice and in compliance with all Department of Justice requirements,” Willis said in a statement.

Still, the Judiciary Committee uses the episode as a basis for requesting all documents and communications about the use of federal funds.

In a recording of the whistleblower’s conversation with Willis, the district attorney does not dispute that the other employee’s desires to spend grant money on laptops and “swag” would be inappropriate.

“I’m not saying your assessment is wrong,” Willis is heard saying in the recording.

Republicans issued the subpoena the same day Willis is due to respond to other allegations that she hired a staffer to work on the Trump case that she was romantically involved with.

The subpoena does not address the committee’s prior efforts to get the prosecutor to turn over information in their broad request to gain access to all information about her investigation into Trump — an effort Willis passionately rebuffed.

Willis wrote that “settled constitutional law clearly permits me to ignore your unjustified and illegal intrusion” and at another point called the efforts by the GOP “bull[ying] by members of Congress.”

“Your attempt to invoke congressional authority to intrude upon and interfere with an active criminal case in Georgia is flagrantly at odds with the Constitution,” Willis wrote in a September letter.

“There is absolutely no support for Congress purporting to second guess or somehow supervise an ongoing Georgia criminal investigation and prosecution. That violation of Georgia’s sovereignty is offensive and will not stand.”

Updated at 11:57 a.m. ET