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Fani Willis had a White House meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris before indicting Donald Trump, a lawyer has claimed during a Georgia Senate hearing.
The claim has since been vehemently denied by White House officials, who say that Willis was attending an event for Black History Month and never met with Kamala Harris.
Attorney Ashley Merchant showed a committee the White House records detailing that Willis, the District Attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, was in the White House on February 28, 2023, before indicting Donald Trump and 18 others in August for allegedly interfering with the 2020 presidential election result in Georgia.
President Joe Biden won the 2020 election with Harris as his vice president. Willis was elected DA as a Democrat candidate.
Merchant said the White House records she obtained showed that Willis had the meeting with Harris in the company of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, a Democrat.
Newsweek sought email comment from Willis' office on Wednesday.
A White House official said that last February, Vice President Harris hosted a Black History Month reception at their residence in partnership with Black Entertainment Television.
The official said that hundreds of black leaders from across the country attended the event that that the Vice President did not get the opportunity to speak directly with the majority of guests, including District Attorney Willis.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 13 election interference charges against him in Georgia and has said the case is politically motivated because he is the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination.
Merchant, a lawyer for Trump's co-accused, Michael Roman, was speaking before the Georgia Senate's special committee on investigations about alleged ethical violations by Willis.
Merchant maintains that Willis only hired attorney Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor because they were in a relationship and that Wade had never prosecuted a felony case before.
Both Willis and Wade accept that they were in a relationship but say it started after she hired him for the Trump case.
Merchant told the committee that Willis and Wade had committed perjury in February during their testimony about their relationship. She said that was enough to have them both disbarred.
Newsweek sought email comment on Wednesday from Wade.
Last month, Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, gave evidence in a two-day hearing following accusations by Roman that she was in a relationship with Wade, a special prosecutor she hired in the high-profile case. It was also alleged the pair had benefited financially from taxpayers' money.
The timeline of their relationship has emerged as a key point of contention, and Merchant alleged to the committee that it started earlier than they admitted. Trump's lawyers examined phone records alleging the pair were in a relationship before the Georgia election fraud case began.
Merchant said that, during a church service on Martin Luther King Day in January, Willis told the congregation that Merchant was questioning her hiring of Wade because he is Black and that Merchant was ignoring the fact that Willis had two other white lawyers on the case.
Merchant said this was false and that Willis did not disclose her relationship with Wade until it emerged in court.
Update 3/6/24, 4:29 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include a video of the Georgia senate hearing.
Update 37/24 7:55 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a response from the White House
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more