Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram filed the order this week, telling Willis she has until Jan. 13 to submit arguments over whether the subpoenas seek legally shielded or confidential information. Ingram wrote that she would issue a final order later saying what Willis had to respond to.
A state appeals court earlier this month removed Willis from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others, citing an “appearance of impropriety” that might not typically warrant such a removal. The Georgia Court of Appeals panel said in a 2-1 ruling that because of the romantic relationship Willis had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade “this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings.”
Willis’ office immediately filed a notice of intent to ask the Georgia Supreme Court to review the decision.
The Republican-led Senate committee sent subpoenas to Willis in August seeking to compel her to testify during its September meeting and to produce scores of documents. The committee was formed earlier this year to examine allegations of “various forms of misconduct” by Willis, an elected Democrat, during her prosecution of Trump and others over their efforts to secure a recount of votes in the former president’s 2020 election loss in Georgia.
The resolution creating the committee focused in particular on Willis’ hiring of Wade to lead the prosecution against Trump and others. The resolution said the relationship amounted to a “clear conflict of interest and a fraud upon the taxpayers” of the county and state.
