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As a legal matter, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could probably get away with ignoring the angry correspondence she receives from House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan. But as The Hill reported, the Georgia prosecutor keeps engaging with the far-right Ohio Republican, apparently eager to respond to his errors of fact and judgment.
“A charitable explanation of your correspondence is that you are ignorant of the United States and Georgia Constitutions and codes,” she wrote in response to a late September letter from Jordan asserting she must answer questions about the investigation. “A more troubling explanation is that you are abusing your authority as Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary to attempt to obstruct and interfere with a Georgia criminal prosecution.”
For those just joining us, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
After Willis indicted Donald Trump and a number of his associates in August, Jordan did what he always does: The far-right congressman launched an investigation into the investigation.
In fact, the Ohio Republican didn’t just express dubious concerns to Willis, he also directed the local prosecutor to hand over a series of documents and related information by Sept. 7.
It seemed quite possible that the Georgia district attorney might simply shrug her shoulders and put Jordan’s letter in the circular file, but Willis instead acknowledged the chairman’s deadline with a letter of her own, telling Jordan that his correspondence included “inaccurate information and misleading statements,” as part of an effort the district attorney characterized as improper interference in an ongoing criminal case.
Willis went on to tell the Judiciary Committee chairman, “Your letter makes clear that you lack a basic understanding of the law, its practice and the ethical obligations of attorneys generally and prosecutors specifically.”
Her pushback had the benefit of being true, but that didn’t stop him from sending another letter in late September, complaining about Willis’ “hostile response,” and giving her until Wednesday to provide him with alleged documents that he thinks might exist.
It led to the Fulton County district attorney’s latest response. “We have already written a letter — which I have attached again for your reference — explaining why the legal positions you advance are meritless,” she explained. “Nothing you’ve said in your latest letter changes that fact.”
At the heart of Jordan’s initiative is a conspiracy theory of sorts: The congressman and his allies apparently believe there are powerful federal officials who are secretly pulling the strings, helping orchestrate anti-Trump prosecutions across multiple jurisdictions. By way of evidence, the far-right chairman has pointed to ... nothing in particular.
But Jordan nevertheless keeps launching investigations, sending letters, making demands, and setting deadlines, hoping that someday, he might uncover imagined proof that almost certainly doesn’t exist.
The problem — that is, one of the problems — is that the prosecutors he’s tried to pressure know they can ignore him. As Jordan really ought to have learned after his foray into a separate case in Manhattan, the House Judiciary Committee doesn’t have jurisdiction to insert itself into criminal prosecutions at the state and local level.
The Judiciary Committee chairman nevertheless continues to believe otherwise. He also continues to be disappointed when prosecutors who have no reason to play along with his partisan crusades ignore his entreaties.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.