More....
Willis made Georgia first state to indict Trump over Jan. 6
Willis announced in August 2023 that she had indicted Trump and allies on racketeering, conspiracy and other charges after a more than two-years-long investigation into alleged 2020 election interference in that state. Under Willis, Georgia became the first state to do so, followed later by fellow Democrat prosecutors in Arizona and Wisconsin who also went after Trump allies.
Eighteen other people, including Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, were also indicted in Georgia, accused of aiding Trump in a bid to change the outcome of the state's 2020 election. You can read that indictment here.
File
GeorgiaIndictment.pdf
The state prosecution came days after Smith filed a similar federal indictment in Washington, D.C.
"Trump and the other defendants charged in this indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump," Willis told a news conference at the time, matching a narrative that the Biden White House, congressional Democrats and Smith also echoed.
Trump's legal team portrayed the state indictment as a pile-on, and alleged that Willis was part of a political conspiracy to defame Trump and drain his resources as he was running again to return to the White House in 2024. Eventually, the president would prevail in getting Willis removed from the case, and the charges were dismissed.
The documents now show that Fulton County prosecutors working for Willis received significant assistance from the Biden administration beyond the waiver of executive privilege, in what could legally only be considered a boost to her targeting of Trump and allies.
Justice Department coordinated Willis with J6 committee
Before impaneling the grand jury to weigh charges against Trump, the records show that Willis’ office approached the local U.S. Attorney’s office with requests to interview several former Trump Justice Department officials, including former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and former Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel.
They submitted several requests, known as "Touhy Requests" to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia. Touhy requests are formal requests to a U.S. government agency not involved in the case to secure testimony from current and former federal officials.
One of the earliest communications in the production, an email from Willis' deputy Wakeford to Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Beranek in March 2022, indicates that the office had already made several such requests to the feds for testimony.
“We anticipate that we might have to make a few more Touhy requests and thought it would be beneficial to have a conversation about the process. Please just let me know if that's something we might be able to work out,” Wakeford wrote.
File
2022.03.14 - Wakeford to Beranek.pdf
Though provided in unredacted form, Just the News has for privacy purposes redacted all email addresses and phone numbers contained in documents published here.
By May, the Justice Department told Willis’ that it was “premature” to provide these officials for interviews because the case was still in its “information-gathering phase.” However, the Justice Department, in a letter to Wakeford, notified the Fulton County prosecutor that many of the former officials had already testified to Congress about their roles on Jan. 6.
“While we are unable to evaluate your request at this point, we can share that, for at least some witnesses, much of the information you seek, and for which the Department would consider providing an authorization, is already publicly available,” Jay Macklin, General Counsel in the DOJ’s Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys wrote on May 11, 2022.
“For example, Messis. Rosen, Donoghue, and Engel each participated in interviews before congressional committees, and they discussed the issues that you identified in your letter,” he added. As a “courtesy,” the Justice Department official attached the congressional transcripts to assist the local prosecutors’ investigation against Trump, the letter shows.
You can read the letter to Wakeford below:
File
2022.05.11 - DOJ to Wakeford.pdf
Outreach to J6 committee Democrats for more information
Around the same time, the communications show the Fulton prosecutors began reaching out to Democratic members of the Jan. 6 Select Committee for information related to their investigation. One of the outreaches went directly to the committee's chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.
"Our office is currently engaged in an ongoing investigation related to possible criminal disruptions that occurred during the administration of the 2020 general elections in Georgia," Willis' office wrote Thompson's team. "As we discussed, my team and I would like a brief audience with Congressman Thompson related to the aforementioned subject matter."
File
BennieThompsonJ6EmailFaniWillisOffice.pdf
At least one office connected Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Michael Hill with the committee’s chief investigative counsel, Tim Heaphy. The records indicate that Heaphy called Hill on April 20, 2022 and their discussion was memorialized in a follow-up email.
“As we discussed yesterday, we’re willing to provide an oral summary of what certain witnesses have told the committee in interviews and depositions,” Heaphy wrote. “We are also prepared to give you access to some committee documents, in camera in our office.”
“We’d like to do this in Washington, sometime next week,” Heaphy added, inviting the Georgia prosecutors to the capital. The email chain indicates that a team from Fulton County eventually made the trip and met with the committee staff.
You can read the emails below:
File
2022.04 - Emails between Heaphy & Hill.pdf
Investigations launched into Willis, and the case is dismissed
House Republicans launched an investigation in Dec. 2023 into the Fulton County prosecutor’s office over indications that Willis had collaborated closely with the Jan. 6 committee. According to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Willis asked Jan. 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson as early as Dec. 2021 for any evidence relevant to her investigation.
The records turned over to Just the News show that Willis made at least two additional requests for committee materials, one on Aug. 4, 2022 and another on Mar. 31, 2023.
Willis was eventually removed as the prosecutor overseeing the Georgia case against Trump and the indictment was eventually dismissed by a Georgia judge in November last year, shortly after Trump won his second non-consecutive term in the White House. The lead prosecutor on the case said that his office would not pursue the case any further, citing the difficulty of compelling a sitting president to stand trial.
“There is no realistic prospect that a sitting President will be compelled to appear in Georgia to stand trial on the allegations in this indictment,” wrote Peter Skandalakis, the prosecutor in a Nov. 26, 2025 court filing. “Donald J. Trump’s current term as President of the United States of America does not expire until January 20, 2029; by that point, eight years will have elapsed” since the alleged crimes.
When the case was dismissed, Georgia's prosecution, led by Willis, was the last remaining probe of the president’s conduct during the 2020 election dispute after Smith dropped his own federal case following Trump’s election victory.
Georgia court: "Willis’ misconduct created an "odor of mendacity"
The Georgia Court of Appeals issued a decision holding Willis accountable for prosecutorial misconduct and conflict of interest during her hunt to get Trump.
“The court highlighted that Willis’ misconduct created an ‘odor of mendacity’ and an appearance of impropriety that could only be cured by the disqualification of her and her entire office,” Trump attorney Steve Sadow said in a statement, according to The Georgia Reporter.
“As the court rightfully noted, only the remedy of disqualification will suffice to restore public confidence. This decision puts an end to a politically motivated persecution of the next President of the United States.”