Viral Post Alleges Fani Willis Questioned Georgia Election Results

Donald Trump's arrest in Georgia on Thursday, accused of attempting to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, has led supporters to scrutinize Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought the charges to the former president's door.

Trump turned himself in to authorities at Atlanta's Fulton County Jail on Thursday night. He was indicted this month on 13 felony counts that include violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, making false statements, conspiracy to commit forgery, and criminal attempt to commit influencing witnesses.

Following Trump's arrest, conservative commentator Benny Johnson released a thread of messages that attempted to compare Facebook posts sent by Willis to comments Trump made about the 2020 Georgia election results.

The posts appear to come from an account that Willis used until 2022. Newsweek reached out to the Fulton County Court Clerk for confirmation.

The initial tweet by Johnson, which has been viewed 2.7 million times, said that "Willis regularly questioned election results & used her office to push unfounded election conspiracies."

The thread was described as a "deep dive" into Willis' history of "challenging" election results, arguing that Trump had been arrested for doing the same thing.

Newsweek's Fact Check team investigated the claims.

'A hardened, radical activist'

Several of Willis' Facebook posts quoted in Johnson's thread don't seem relevant to his central argument.

Two posts are included as evidence of Willis' sympathies to Democratic and left-wing causes, alleging her pages "are littered with BLM propaganda and deep partisan adherence to left-wing ideology."

The argument suggests that Willis' political allegiances compromise her fairness. This is a matter of argument, but it doesn't advance the central claim that she, like Trump, challenged election results.

In another post from November 5, 2020, which included a photo of a scribbled U.S. map with the caption "What we know so far," Willis wrote: "Trying to smile through this mess."

Johnson argued that here, Willis was directly calling the 2020 presidential election a mess and "seemingly agreeing with Trump on the poor election procedures in 2020." That, however, seems to be an inference, not necessarily an accurate reflection of Willis' intent.

Another, from November 3, 2020, included a link to a news article: "Absentee ballot counting in Georgia's most populous county delayed 4 hours after a water pipe burst."

Willis commented: "Why Fulton?" Johnson argues this was one element proving how "Fani Willis regularly and consistently questioned Georgia's election procedures and pushed unfounded election conspiracy theories on her public social media profile." It's not clear how her post supports that claim.

'Concerns about the election'

Other Facebook posts included comments regarding counts and recounts from elections in 2018 and 2020, another from 2018 about the responsibilities of the secretary of state, and one on voter turnout in the 2020 presidential election.

The thread ends quoting an excerpt from the Trump indictment. It states: "Act 22 - On or about the 3rd day of December 2020, DONALD JOHN TRUMP caused to be tweeted from the Twitter account @RealDonaldTrump, 'Georgia hearings now on @OANN. Amazing!' This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy."

Johnson comments beneath this that "If trump can be prosecuted for this social media post— why not Fani?"

As Newsweek has previously reported in its coverage surrounding Trump's indictment, it is not illegal to question the results of an election or even suggest that the results were not legitimate. The difference in Trump's case is that he allegedly attempted to overthrow the legitimate results of an election in the knowledge that he lost and conspired with others to do so.

Although Willis' comments on Facebook may question electoral procedure or fairness, they are not part of a conspiracy to reverse the verified, democratic choice of an election.

Further, the one "Act" from the indictment that Johnson highlighted is one of 55 interactions by Trump and his accused co-conspirators that Willis argues are part of "Racketeering Activity And Overt Acts in Furtherance Of the Conspiracy." Clearly, one tweet would not be sufficient evidence of a plot and is presented in a mix of material used to support Trump's RICO charge.

Willis has been the subject of multiple misleading accusations in the past month, including a Trump attack ad in which it was claimed that she had a relationship with a gang member she was prosecuting.