On Wednesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) launched an inquiry into the collusion between Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the partisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol (“January 6 Select Committee”), chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), after recently learning that Willis’s office coordinated its investigative actions with the partisan Select Committee.
This new information raises additional questions relevant to the Committee’s oversight of Willis’s politically motivated prosecution of a former President of the United States and several former senior federal officials. The partisan January 6 Select Committee had a troubling track record of procedural abuses and due process violations. It only solicited evidence from a select set of relevant individuals, ignored exculpatory evidence, and did not pursue witnesses with evidence that would not advance its partisan narrative. It fabricated and publicly released doctored evidence. It cherrypicked selective information to create false and misleading public narratives. To the extent that Willis’s politically motivated prosecutions are now relying in any way on records obtained from the partisan January 6 Select Committee, it only reinforces concerns about her and Chairman Thompson’s commitment to due process and whether they have fulfilled their obligations to properly disclose this material.
“The coordination between Fulton County, GA District Attorney Fani Willis, and Pelosi’s January 6 Select Committee, should be concerning to everyone. This new information raises questions about Willis’ and Thompson’s commitment to due process, and whether House Rules were violated when the Select Committee failed to properly disclose this material. We have serious concerns about this behavior and we are seeking the truth,” said Congressman Loudermilk.
Excerpts of the Letter to DA Fani Willis:
“The Committee on the Judiciary continues to conduct oversight of politically motivated prosecutions by state and local officials. Although we were aware that your office had coordinated its politically motivated prosecutions with the Office of Special Counsel Jack Smith, we recently learned that your office also coordinated its investigative actions with the partisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol (‘January 6 Select Committee’). Accordingly, we write to request documents relating to the investigative coordination between your office and the partisan January 6 Select Committee.
“On August 24, 2023, we wrote to you requesting production of three categories of documents to advance the Committee’s oversight of politically motivated prosecutions by state and local officials. Your reply letter dated September 7, 2023, failed to adequately address the Committee’s requests and made several baseless excuses for refusing to provide the requested documents. We wrote again on September 27, 2023, explaining in detail the legal deficiencies in your position and offering, as a sign of good faith, to prioritize the production of certain documents so as to minimize any potential burden on your office. You responded to the Committee on October 11, 2023, rejecting our offer at accommodation and instead resorting to ad hominin attacks on the Committee’s oversight. Your response letter largely rehashed the same arguments that we considered and addressed in our detailed September 27 letter. You again failed to produce any documents in response to the Committee’s oversight.
“Recently, the Committee became aware of cooperation between your office and the partisan January 6 Select Committee. We are in possession of a letter, dated December 17, 2021, and enclosed herein, from you to Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, Chairman of the partisan January 6 Select Committee, requesting access to congressional ‘records that may be relevant to our criminal investigation.’ Specifically, you asked Rep. Thompson for access to ‘record [sic] includ[ing] but . . . not limited to recordings and transcripts of witness interviews and depositions, electronic and print records of communications, and records of travel.’ You even offered that you and your staff were eager to travel to Washington, D.C, to ‘meet with investigators in person’ and to receive these records ‘any time’ between January 31, 2022, and February 25, 2022.
“Although it is not clear what records, if any, you obtained from your coordination with the partisan January 6 Select Committee, this new information raises additional questions relevant to the Committee’s oversight of your politically motivated prosecution of a former President of the United States and several former senior federal officials. The partisan January 6 Select Committee had a troubling track record of procedural abuses and due process violations. It only solicited evidence from a select set of relevant individuals, ignored exculpatory evidence, and did not pursue witnesses with evidence that would not advance its partisan narrative. It fabricated and publicly released doctored evidence. It cherrypicked selective information to create false and misleading public narratives. To the extent that your politically motivated prosecutions are now relying in any way on records obtained from the partisan January 6 Select Committee, it only reinforces concerns about your commitment to due process and whether you have fulfilled your obligations to properly disclose this material.
“Article I of the Constitution grants Congress ‘[a]ll legislative powers,’ and the Supreme Court has held that ‘Congress may conduct inquiries into the administration of existing laws, studies of proposed laws, and . . . surveys of defects in our social, economic or political system for the purposes of enabling Congress to remedy them.’ Further, as we have previously articulated to you, Congress ‘has authority to consider, and to investigate . . . legislative reforms to insulate current and former presidents from state prosecutions . . . .’ Pursuant to Rule X of the House of Representatives, the Committee is authorized to conduct oversight of criminal justice matters to inform potential legislation. Accordingly, we ask that you please produce the
following material:
1. All documents and communications between or among the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol for the period July 1, 2021, to January 3, 2023; and
2. All documents and communications referring or relating to records in the possession of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office obtained from the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol.”
Excerpts of the Letter to Rep. Bennie Thompson:
“This Subcommittee recently discovered a letter sent to you by Fani Willis, the Fulton County District Attorney in the archived files of the Select Committee. In the December 17, 2021 letter, Ms. Willis made an ‘official request’ to access any Select Committee records that are relevant to her investigation. Ms. Willis specifically requested access to ‘recordings and transcripts of witness interviews and depositions, electronic and print records of communications, and records of travel.’
“According to public reporting, the Select Committee shared records with Ms. Willis. The Select Committee provided ‘Fulton County prosecutors…key evidence about what former President Trump and his top advisers knew’ with respect to Georgia’s 2020 election results. However, there are no records of any additional communication between the Select Committee and Ms. Willis and her office.
“Therefore, we have no records showing what the Select Committee actually provided her office. This is especially concerning given you wrote in a previous letter to me that you did not preserve any video recordings of depositions or transcribed interviews. The Select Committee regularly used short clips from these videos during its prime-time hearings to further your predetermined narrative. By failing to preserve these videos, you deny the American public the right to review the footage and make their own conclusions about witnesses’ truthfulness. Clearly Ms. Willis agrees that video recordings of witness interviews and depositions are important records.
“Additionally, on August 11, 2023, federal prosecutors working for Special Counsel Jack Smith, said in court that they were using unreleased transcripts provided by the Select Committee in their prosecution of former President Trump. It is unclear if the Special Counsel’s team received these transcripts from the Select Committee or directly from the Biden Administration. However, because you intentionally chose not to archive and preserve these transcripts, my Subcommittee, and the House of Representatives, does not even know the names of these witnesses or what they said in interviews with the Select Committee.
“Accordingly, I ask that you provide the following information by Tuesday, December 11, 2023:
- A list of all official communications between the Select Committee and Ms. Willis or her office and copies of all such communications;
- A list of all individuals who were deposed or interviewed by the Select Committee including the date of each deposition or interview, and, if an individual was deposed or interviewed more than once, specify the date of each deposition or transcribed interview;
- An itemized list, and copies, of every record including any recordings, transcript of witness interviews or depositions electronic and print records of communications and travel the Select Committee provided to Ms. Willis or her office;
- A list of all individuals or entities the Select Committee sent video recordings of transcribed interviews or depositions, transcripts from transcribed interviews or depositions, or any other official records of the Select Committee, and an itemized list of each record sent to each individual or entity;
- All written guidance you received from the Office of the Clerk and any ‘other authorities’ regarding your assertion that you were not required to preserve video recordings of transcribed interviews and depositions.”
Read the full letter to DA Fani Willis here.
Read the full letter to Congressman Bennie Thompson here.
