If Georgia Republican senators wanted answers from their long-awaited public hearing with Fulton County District Attorney Fulton Fani Willis, they were sorely disappointed.
They faced fire and fury from Atlanta’s prosecutor instead.
Willis made clear through the proceeding Wednesday that she did not trust the GOP lawmakers, contended that they were asking her “ignorant” and “dumbass” questions, suggested they were being racist toward her, and accused them of bringing her to the Gold Dome for purely political purposes.
Her attorney, former state Gov. Roy Barnes who was seated at her side, called the hearing a “witch hunt.”
It’s true that several of the Republican senators on the panel are running for higher office. Committee Chair Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, who was not present because of medical reasons, is running for attorney general, and the acting presiding officer, Vice Chair Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, is one of three lawmakers on the committee running for lieutenant governor. Dolezal remained calm as chair but seemed clearly flustered when Willis didn’t answer a question or made a jab at him and his colleagues.
The hearing made great fodder for social media moments, ads and fundraising pleas.
What it did not bring though was any clarity for Georgia voters who have been treated like ping pong balls ever since Willis indicted President Donald Trump and 18 alleged co-conspirators on accusations they tried to steal the 2020 election.
Trump lost in 2020 even though he didn’t want to
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
What we know — because a recording exists — is that Trump asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to find enough votes out of thin air to outperform former President Joe Biden. He wanted a different result, but Raffensperger refused the request.
In response, Willis set about to use the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) statute designed to prosecute mobsters to hold Trump and company to account.
However, her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade eventually led a majority of judges — all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court — to throw her off the case.
Willis suggested to senators at the hearing that the rulings were politically motivated by jurists seeking higher positions and recommended lawmakers pass legislation to depoliticize the courts.
The DA’s performance was Trumpian in so many ways.
She declared herself the best district attorney in America and boasted about her landslide election and re-election wins in 2020 and 2024.
She used the president’s tactics of attacking and changing the subject as needed to distract, divert and pivot, often confounding the panel.
Willis has a point that the Republican lawmakers appear to be more interested in kowtowing to Trump than in getting to the truth about election interference.
In 2025, the Georgia General Assembly passed legislation to allow defendants to recoup attorneys’ fees in cases where prosecutors were disqualified — aimed at wounding Willis and flattering the president.
But who will pay those attorneys’ fees if former defendants demand and receive them? The taxpayers of Fulton County, of course.
Is the president’s behavior standard for official testimony?
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Where Willis fell short is in taking no responsibility for her personal actions that caused the most clear-cut case against Trump to fall apart and die a slow, painful and inevitable death in Georgia’s political system where Republicans wield the upper hand.
It is not surprising, however. Trump never admits responsibility or defeat either. Deny, deny, deny is the game.
The behavior he exhibits — which is accepted, ignored or tolerated by his political supporters — led to this moment.
Consider: Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have made it a sport to spar with lawmakers, answer few questions and declare victory.
Willis used this playbook at the Georgia Legislature and she ran circles around the lawmakers.
But Georgians aren’t better off for this hearing, for the time wasted on the failed election interference case, and for the indifference Republicans continue to show toward publicly accepting the results of the 2020 election.
They clearly had no problem with Trump being declared winner of Georgia’s electoral votes in 2024.
Ironically, Willis taking on Trump won her two-thirds of the vote that same year. She appears certain that this confident, combative approach will win over voters in 2028.
Email AJC Opinion Editor David Plazas at david.plazas@ajc.com.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
