{"id":2217113,"date":"2024-04-10T05:18:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T09:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-department-uncovers-inconsistencies-in-fani-williss-use-of-federal-grant-funds\/"},"modified":"2024-04-10T05:22:30","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T09:22:30","slug":"justice-department-uncovers-inconsistencies-in-fani-williss-use-of-federal-grant-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-department-uncovers-inconsistencies-in-fani-williss-use-of-federal-grant-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice Department finds discrepancies in how Fani Willis used federal grant money"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjustice-department-uncovers-inconsistencies-in-fani-williss-use-of-federal-grant-funds%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2217113&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>President Joe Biden\u2019s Justice Department has identified discrepancies in how Fani\u200c Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, utilized\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-romney-cotton-minimum-wage-plan-is-anti-conservative-and-embraces-the-logic-of-the-left\/\" title=\"The Romney\/Cotton Minimum Wage Plan Is Anti-Conservative And Embraces The Logic Of The Left\">federal grant funds<\/a>. The revelation, as reported by the Washington Free \u2063Beacon, occurs\u2063 following the dismissal of a whistleblower raising concerns about a $488,000 grant misuse. The Justice Department is investigating with Willis&#8217;s office amidst ongoing scrutiny by the House Judiciary Committee.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>President Joe Biden\u2019s Justice Department has uncovered &#8220;inconsistencies&#8221; in Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis\u2019s use of federal grant funds, the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> has learned.<\/p>\n<p>The bombshell discovery comes two years after Willis <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/fani-willis-axed-employee-who-blew-whistle-on-misuse-of-federal-funds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fired a whistleblower<\/a> who had warned the district attorney that her office was attempting to misuse a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usaspending.gov\/award\/ASST_NON_2020MUMU0022_1550\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$488,000 federal grant<\/a> to pay for &#8220;swag,&#8221; computers, and travel. It\u2019s that same grant that the Justice Department\u2019s Office of Justice Programs now says is plagued with reporting discrepancies from Willis\u2019s office, errors that federal authorities only disclosed to the<em> Free Beacon<\/em> after providing contradictory statements regarding awards Willis\u2019s office may have made under the grant.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;During our review of the award to respond to this inquiry, we have noticed some inconsistencies in what Fulton County has reported to [the Federal Subaward Reporting System] and we are working with them to update their reporting accordingly,&#8221; a Justice Department spokeswoman told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department did not provide any further details on the nature of Willis\u2019s reporting &#8220;inconsistencies&#8221; on the $488,000 federal grant, which was earmarked for the creation of a Center for Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention in Atlanta. The grant ended in September 2023, but the center never opened.<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department is coordinating with Willis\u2019s office to fix the grant reporting &#8220;inconsistencies&#8221; amid an ongoing House Judiciary Committee investigation into Willis\u2019s use of federal grant funds. Committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/jim-jordan-subpoenas-embattled-georgia-da-fani-willis-following-free-beacon-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">subpoenaed<\/a> Willis in early February for records related to the $488,000 federal grant and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sen-grassley-fbi-whistleblower-investigation-centers-on-mystery-hunter-biden-evidence\/\" title=\"Sen. Grassley: FBI Whistleblower Investigation Centers on Mystery Hunter Biden Evidence\">whistleblower allegations made<\/a> by former Willis staffer Amanda Timpson, who was listed as the grant director until the district attorney abruptly fired her in January 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/jim-jordan-threatens-to-hold-fani-willis-in-contempt-of-congress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">threatened<\/a> to hold Willis in contempt of Congress on March 14 after the district attorney responded to his subpoena with a &#8220;narrow set of documents&#8221; that had nothing to do with Timpson\u2019s whistleblower allegations. Willis <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZcohenCNN\/status\/1773052447558103124?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote in response<\/a> that Jordan\u2019s demands were &#8220;unreasonable and uncustomary&#8221; and suggested his investigation was an effort to derail her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-deranged-sounding-georgia-grand-jury-foreman-throws-election-case-against-trump-into-legal-jeopardy\/\" title=\"WATCH: Deranged-Sounding Georgia Grand Jury Foreman Throws Election Case Against Trump Into Legal Jeopardy\">election interference case<\/a> against former president Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Free Beacon <\/em>questions that prompted the Justice Department\u2019s discovery of Willis\u2019s reporting &#8220;inconsistencies&#8221; centered on subaward payments the district attorney may have made to the Offender Alumni Association, an Alabama-based charity staffed by former prison inmates.<\/p>\n<p>Whether or not the Offender Alumni Association received payments from the federal grant depends on who is asked.<\/p>\n<p>Fulton County records show that Willis\u2019s office <a href=\"https:\/\/opencheckbook.fultoncountyga.gov\/#!\/year\/All%20Years\/explore\/0-\/vendor_legal_name\/Offender+Alumni+Association\/0-\/department_name\/District+Attorney\/1\/object_name\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transferred<\/a> $88,900 from the federal gang prevention grant to the Offender Alumni Association. But the group\u2019s administrative director, <a href=\"https:\/\/offenderalumniassociation.org\/our-team-alabama\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Toni Barnett<\/a>, told the <em>Free Beacon <\/em>that she had no idea why the county was reporting making those payments to her group in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have no idea where that information is coming from,&#8221; Barnett told the <em>Free Beacon <\/em>on March 15. &#8220;I have no idea why you\u2019re calling or where you\u2019re getting that information from. You need to go to that government resource and you need to let that validate whatever you want to say or print. Because I don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Offender Alumni Association co-founder Deborah Daniels and chief operating officer Dena Dickerson did not return several subsequent requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>On March 27, a Justice Department spokeswoman told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> that federal authorities had no records on any subgrant payments from Willis\u2019s office to the Offender Alumni Association.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Offender Alumni Association is not listed as a subgrantee for the grant award, Gang Prevention in Fulton County, awarded at $488,594,&#8221; the spokeswoman told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em>. &#8220;Hence, the questions regarding the organization as a subgrantee are not applicable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, the Justice Department changed its tune after the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> informed it that its records contradict Fulton County\u2019s records, which disclose $89,900 in subpayments to the Offender Alumni Association.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Upon further research, we found that Offender Alumni Association is included as a Fulton County subgrantee in subsequent documents,&#8221; a Justice Department spokeswoman told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> on April 1. &#8220;We apologize for this initial error.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department refused to provide the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> with copies of the &#8220;subsequent documents&#8221; showing Willis\u2019s office made subgrant payments to the Offender Alumni Association, or the date that Willis\u2019s office reported the payments to federal authorities.<\/p>\n<p>Willis\u2019s office did not return a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;inconsistencies&#8221; surrounding Willis\u2019s use of federal grant funds were discovered just weeks after a judge ruled the embattled district attorney could remain on her election interference case against Trump. The former president\u2019s legal team petitioned to remove Willis from the case over her clandestine affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, with whom she had an illicit relationship while paying him more than $650,000 in legal fees to prosecute the former president.<\/p>\n<p>Fulton County Superior Court judge Scott McAfee said in a March 15 order that an &#8220;odor of mendacity remains&#8221; after weeks of public hearings over Willis\u2019s relationship with Wade. But the judge allowed Willis to stay on the case if she fired Wade. Trump&#8217;s legal team is seeking to overturn the ruling at the Georgia Court of Appeals.\t<\/p>\n<p>Willis has since christened herself as the &#8220;face of the feminist movement&#8221; after receiving the greenlight to stay on her case against Trump.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t think I was the face of the feminist movement, but somehow I became it,&#8221; Willis said during an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/fani-willis-calls-herself-face-feminist-movement-1884186\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interview on CNN<\/a>. &#8220;And I think that women feel like women are treated differently when they&#8217;re professionals and they&#8217;re proud to see someone that is strong and trying to do the right job.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden\u2019s Justice Department has found &#8220;inconsistencies&#8221; in how Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis used federal grant funds. This revelation, reported by the Washington Free Beacon, follows the dismissal of a whistleblower who flagged potential misuse of a $488,000 grant by Willis&#8217;s office two years ago<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":2217114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/georgia-grand-jury-delivers-indictment-in-2020-election-case-e1699906289573.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2217113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/georgia-grand-jury-delivers-indictment-in-2020-election-case-e1699906289573.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2217113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2217114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2217113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2217113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2217113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}