Fani Willis Faces Investigation Over Financial Disclosures

Fani Willis faces an investigation into her financial disclosures after Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed the Fulton County district attorney violated state transparency and ethics rules.

Greene filed a complaint with the Georgia State Ethics Commission saying Willis had failed to file personal financial disclosure statements since opening her investigation into former president Donald Trump, according to NBC News.

Newsweek has not seen the complaint and has contacted Fani Willis via LinkedIn and representatives for Marjorie Taylor Greene via email for comment.

Willis is leading the case against Trump and 18 others who are accused in a 41-count indictment of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. The former president has pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges against him and has repeatedly said the case is part of a political witch hunt aimed at undermining his position as frontrunner for the GOP 2024 presidential nomination.

Willis has come under pressure amid allegations about her relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor she hired in the case, and has been the subject of multiple complaints.

According to NBC News, the complaint accuses Willis of not filing financial information in 2021 and 2022 intentionally and criticises her over her relationship with Wade.

It says: "The Georgia Campaign Finance Act exists to ensure that public officials are transparent and open about their dealings, influences, and motivations. And that is exactly what Fani Willis has sought to avoid at every turn: transparency. Georgians have a right to know who exerts undue and unfair influence over their elected officials.

"For that reason, Fani Willis' alleged failures to disclose these suspicious relationships and transactions must be fully investigated and, if proven true, punished in order to vindicate these rights and restore Georgians' confidence in the intentions of their leaders," the filing says.

Former Trump staffer Michael Roman, a co-defendant, first made the accusations about Willis and sought to disqualify her and Wade from the trial. The DA and Wade said on February 2 that they had had a romantic relationship, but denied this represented a conflict of interest. An evidentiary hearing on the matter is scheduled for February 16.

Speaking to Newsweek, Matthew Mangino, a former district attorney in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, said Willis' alleged error was "not a good look."

He said: "The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Act requires elected officials and public officials to annually file a financial disclosure. This is a routine matter that most states require.

"If Taylor Greene is correct, I think Willis could correct the error by filing the past due disclosures. However, this is not a good look for a prosecutor who is trying to bring down a former president.

"For instance, unpaid local school board members are required to file financial disclosures, yet a big city prosecutor in an extremely high-profiled case didn't file financial disclosures—taken with the other issues already raise that would be a concern."

Aside from Greene's complaint, on Tuesday, lawyers for former state GOP chair and Trump co-defendant David Shafer seeks to remove her for making a speech in January in which she questioned why Wade, who is Black, was being singled out when her other two special prosecutors are white.

However, Willis has also received some support. On Monday night, a coalition of 17 ethics experts, former prosecutors and defense attorneys filed a court brief arguing that Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee should dismiss motions alleging Willis acted improperly.

Update 2/8/24 10:53 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.