House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan apparently isn’t quite done sending angry letters to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, though if the Ohio Republican thinks he’s helping his cause, he’s mistaken. The Hill reported:
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) fired back at Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) on Wednesday for her “hostile response” to his request to turn over documents related to her prosecution of former President Trump.
For those just joining us, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
After the Georgia prosecutor indicted Donald Trump and a number of his associates last month, Jordan did what he always does: The Ohio Republican launched an investigation into the investigation.
In fact, the GOP congressman wrote to Willis, directing 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 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.
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 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 trouble is, 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, and in his newest letter to Willis, instead of simply giving up on this pointless probe, he gave the Fulton County district attorney a new deadline: Jordan asked that the prosecutor’s office comply by Oct. 11.
If the Ohio congressman is hoping to receive a satisfying response in two weeks, he’ll probably be disappointed.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
