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Attorney Ashley Merchant speaks during a hearing in the State of Georgia v. Donald Trump case at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta on February 27, 2024.
CNN
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A Georgia Senate committee investigating allegations of misconduct by Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis heard more than three hours of testimony from defense attorney Ashley Merchant, but the Republican-dominated panel offered little rebuttal. However, little new information regarding the allegations was provided.
Merchant is representing one of Donald Trump's co-defendants in Georgia's massive 2020 election interference racketeering case, a move that could jeopardize the entire prosecution, including Willis, a Democrat. We are requesting that he be removed from the case.
The committee's chairman, Republican state Sen. Bill Cowsert, told CNN that the committee's ultimate goal “is to determine whether there was any inappropriate conduct.” Whether there was any financial wrongdoing or whether any state law was violated. ”
“That's the role of this commission: Get the facts, get the truth, and decide whether we need to put more guardrails in Georgia law to prevent obvious conflicts of interest, abuses of the public's trust, and misuse of taxpayer dollars. We'll look into it,” Cowsert said. .
But Democratic Sen. Jason Estevez accused his Republican colleagues of not seeking the truth about Willis, but instead of doing everything in their power to keep the story in the news.
“They don't think the legal process is moving quickly enough,” Estevez said, calling Wednesday's hearing “stupid.”
State Sen. Harold Jones, the only Democrat to question Merchant, told reporters after the hearing that Republicans were “bringing bad publicity to the whole situation” and “perhaps trying to influence the trial.” He said he thought so.
Jones spent time cross-examining Merchant, saying Merchant's client had no “violent conflict” and that Wade was only requesting his time “because he's litigating.” and expressed concern about the validity of Mr. Merchant's claims.
Among Merchant's fraud claims are allegations that Wade received excessive compensation in the 2020 Georgia election interference case. “The reason he's charging hours is because he's prosecuting a case that was indicted by a grand jury,” Jones argued.
“He's been able to go to grand juries and get favorable indictments for the state, and he's actually gotten some people to plead guilty,” Jones said, referring to Wade. “Your argument is that humans are [Willis] A man who makes $200,000 a year is actually preparing prosecutors to go on a $3,500 trip. ”
“I think the jury is going to be smarter. They're going to hear the evidence… and I'm confident that both sides will actually play their part in that particular situation,” Jones said. .
The task force was established in January after the allegations against Willis were first made public in a complaint filed by Merchant for his disbarment.
Although the commission has the power to subpoena individuals to testify under oath, the nine-member panel does not have the power to remove Willis from the case.
Wednesday was the first time we heard from witnesses, and it came a day after Super Tuesday, when Trump was all but certain to become the next Republican presidential nominee.
The committee, which is made up of six Republicans and three Democrats, considered potential conflicts of interest and public funding in the relationship before alleging that Willis began a romantic relationship with the special counsel he hired in 2021. We have begun an investigation into whether this indicated the possibility of unauthorized use.
The commission can amend Georgia law or enact new laws, but it does not have the power to directly sanction Willis.
CNN's Jade Gordon, Shirin Faqiri and Olivia Laborde contributed to this report.
This article and heading have been updated with additional developments.