The Fulton County Board of Ethics announced it doesn’t have the jurisdiction to file complaints against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis since she is a state constitutional officer and not a county official.
The board was scheduled to meet on March 7 but abruptly canceled and released a statement confirming the new revelation. “The Fulton County Board of Ethics lacks jurisdiction to hear any Ethics Complaint against Fani T. Willis,” the board said. “Accordingly, any ethics complaint against the district attorney of any county would be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the State Ethics Commission.”
Continuing, the ethics board said Willis, like all district attorneys, is “an elected state constitutional officer who is a part of the judicial branch of state government” under the Fulton County Code of Ethics, applying only to county officers and employees. “The Fulton County District Attorney does not fall within the definition of a ‘county officer’ as defined in the ethics code,” the statement read.
Willis has been in the spotlight after Michael Roman, a co-defendant in the Georgia election interference case, filed for Willis to be disqualified after accusing the DA of having an improper affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, hired to prosecute Trump.
Before canceling, the board was expected to hear two complaints regarding Willis submitted by Fulton County residents Gregory Mantell and Steven Kramer. Both complaints were related to financials, with Mantell’s being related to the DA’s alleged refusal to release invoices paid to Wade and Kramer, wanting to know how Willis’ office distributed county funds.
“The extra resources and financial costs for the court and the district attorney’s office, both paid for by Fulton County taxpayers like me, are to deal with this improper relationship,” Kramer wrote in the complaint dated Feb. 14, according to Fox News.Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) claimed she looked forward to the hearing as she had two pending ethics complaints against Willis. If the board found her in violation, she would have faced a fine of $1,000.
While Willis may have dodged this bullet,
she is not yet at the finish line. She still faces scrutiny from a Georgia Senate legislative committee and Trump’s defense team. Following the committee’s first hearing on March 6, overseen by Judge Scott McAfee, the judge is expected to rule on Willis’ disqualification in the next few weeks.RELATED CONTENT: Georgia DA Fani Willis, Nathan Wade Affair Triggers Calls For Disbarment