A Georgia Senate committee is investigating allegations of misconduct and misuse of funds by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, including claims that she demoted and fired a whistleblower who raised concerns about illegal spending. The probe also examines Willis' alleged "improper" affair with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor she hired a year after he helped her assemble her staff.
A Georgia Senate committee is examining allegations of misconduct and misuse of funds by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, including claims that she demoted and fired a whistleblower who raised concerns about illegal spending.
On Thursday, the Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations, chaired by Republican state Sen. Bill Cowsert, held its fourth hearing as part of its investigation into Willis' alleged improprieties.
Amanda Timpson, who once served as Willis' director of juvenile diversion programs, testified that she was demoted and eventually fired after she blew the whistle on the office's misuse of federal grant money.
According to Timpson, shortly after Willis was elected in 2020, Nathan Wade, with whom Willis is alleged to have had an "improper" affair, was part of every interview panel for Willis' incoming staff.
However, Wade would not be hired as special prosecutor until roughly a year later. Willis hired Wade in November 2021 to help prosecute the sweeping racketeering case against former President Trump related to allegations of election interference.
Cowsert expressed skepticism about Willis' claim that her relationship with Wade began after he was hired.
"For a whole year, [Wade] was her confidant and collaborator on running the office before he gets hired," Cowsert said in an interview with Fox News Digital. "And then she's acting like it was just something that happened in the summer of 2022. That they began a relationship months after the hiring. That's a dubious claim."
In a committee hearing in March, Ashleigh Merchant, a lawyer for a co-defendant in the case against Trump, testified that information on Wade's cellphone data indicated he visited the condo Willis was renting a number of times before he was hired.
"It's pinging from his house all the way down to the condo at midnight 1 a.m. And then he calls her when he gets there. And then it goes silent for four or five hours. And then, you know, early in the morning hours, he starts pinging again, driving back, and then he texts her when he gets home," Merchant said.
Attorneys for the state testified that geolocation data is unreliable as evidence. However, Merchant noted that the state is "currently using the same data in another courtroom to prosecute someone."
State lawmakers formed the special committee to investigate Willis' office after a judge ruled that she could stay on the Trump case only if Wade was removed. Wade resigned from the case later that day.
Cowsert said Timpson was a "very impressive and credible" witness.
"I think it was interesting that nobody on the committee ever questioned the accuracy of her complaints," Cowsert said.
Timpson testified that she faced retaliation after reporting the misuse of funds, including being demoted to the position of file clerk.
"I thought that I was going to ultimately retire from the DA's office, and it made a place that I used to be proud of working at hell for me, essentially," Timpson said.
Cowsert noted that working in the DA's office was a "dream job" for Timpson, who had grown up in Compton, California, an area plagued by gang activity.
"I think she's trying to make the world better. And that her niche is stopping youths from joining gangs. And she did that with the school system here and then with the DA's office. It was like a dream job, really, for her… and then it was snatched away from her," Cowsert said.
The committee is expected to hold additional hearings over the next several months. Willis has said she will not testify, although the committee has subpoena power, and she has called the committee "unlawful."
