{"id":2343619,"date":"2024-09-19T19:18:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T23:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-co-defendant-scores-bid-to-subpoena-fani-willis-in-tense-fulton-county-hearing-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-09-19T19:20:30","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T23:20:30","slug":"trump-co-defendant-scores-bid-to-subpoena-fani-willis-in-tense-fulton-county-hearing-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-co-defendant-scores-bid-to-subpoena-fani-willis-in-tense-fulton-county-hearing-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump co-defendant scores bid to subpoena Fani Willis in tense Fulton County hearing &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"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\">32<\/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%2Ftrump-co-defendant-scores-bid-to-subpoena-fani-willis-in-tense-fulton-county-hearing-washington-examiner%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=2343619&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>A recent hearing \u200cin a \u200cGeorgia criminal\u200d case\u200c involving former President Donald Trump has \u200cled a judge\u200d to allow one of \u200bTrump&#8217;s co-defendants to consider subpoenaing Fulton \u200bCounty District Attorney Fani Willis. The discussion\u2062 arose from a civil\u200c lawsuit accusing Willis&#8217;s office of violating Georgia&#8217;s Open Records Act by\u200b not providing requested documents related to the resignation of former\u2064 special prosecutor Nathan Wade and the use of taxpayer funds for\u200b a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lincoln-project-received-32-million-in-free-media-from-cnn-msnbc-since-weaver-scandal-broke\/\" title=\"Lincoln Project Received  Million in Free Media from CNN, MSNBC Since Weaver Scandal Broke\">media monitoring service<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>During \u200dthe hearing, Fulton County Superior Court \u2062Judge\u2064 Rachel Krause stated that a\u2064 motion to hold Willis in \u200bcontempt was\u200c premature \u2064unless she was called to\u200d testify and failed to appear. The judge emphasized that this is a civil case, separate from criminal proceedings. Although Merchant, the attorney for\u2062 co-defendant Michael Roman, pushed for Willis to be compelled to testify, Krause noted that consideration of motions to \u2062quash subpoenas and other requests \u2062would\u2064 also be\u200c premature at this stage.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200dinteractions between the\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-trump-please-pardon-jon-woods-a-victim-of-process-crimes-like-michael-flynn\/\" title=\"President Trump, Please Pardon Jon Woods, a Victim of Process Crimes Like Michael Flynn\">defense attorney<\/a> and \u2063prosecutors\u200b became heated, highlighting the contentious nature \u200dof the proceedings as they examined open\u2062 records requests and compliance\u200c with legal obligations. The hearing reflects ongoing\u200b legal challenges surrounding the case against Trump and \u200chis co-defendants in\u200b Fulton County.  <\/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<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump co-defendant scores bid to subpoena Fani Willis in tense Fulton County hearing<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1704822\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>A tense hearing related to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/georgia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Georgia<\/a> criminal case against former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Donald Trump<\/a> resulted in a judge allowing one of his co-defendants the chance to subpoena Fulton County District Attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/fani-willis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Fani Willis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The decision by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause to keep the door open for a subpoena against Willis followed her initial refusal at the outset of the hearing to find Willis in contempt over her alleged violation of state open records laws.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Unless and until Ms. Willis is called to the stand and refuses or fails to appear, if ordered to do so, she&rsquo;s not in contempt, and so that motion is premature,&rdquo; Krause said Thursday morning before the judge also dealt prosecutors a blow over their motion to quash the subpoena against Willis.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Judge in Fani Willis open records hearing: &#8220;I received a motion to hold Miss Willis in contempt for lack of compliance with the subpoena for today&#8217;s appearance&hellip; unless Miss Willis is called to the stand and refuses or fails to appear&hellip; she&#8217;s not in contempt, so that motion is&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mUfpkwxT0j\">pic.twitter.com\/mUfpkwxT0j<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BlueATLGeorgia\/status\/1836773428482732279?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 19, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/p>\n<p>Krause sought to temper both prosecutors and defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, after the judge acknowledged both parties were making premature attempts to have their motions granted without first hearing testimony from other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-sheriffs-tell-newsom-they-wont-enforce-covid-curfew\/\" title=\"California Sheriffs Tell Newsom They Won&#039;t Enforce COVID Curfew\">county officials<\/a> as part of the civil lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is a civil case, not a criminal case,&rdquo; Krause said, noting, &ldquo;I, too, have had to remind myself.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Trump co-defendant&rsquo;s lawsuit, filed earlier this year, accuses Willis and her office of violating the Georgia Open Records Act by failing to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-house-republicans-launch-investigation-into-epa-officials-continued-ties-with-chinese-government-controlled-university\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Launch Investigation Into EPA Official\u2019s Continued Ties With Chinese Government-Controlled University\">provide records related<\/a> to the employment of Nathan Wade, the former special prosecutor forced to resign from his role on the Trump prosecution due to his prior romantic relationship with Willis. Merchant has also accused Willis&rsquo;s office of &ldquo;hiding documents&rdquo; concerning a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/george-soros-donations-to-fight-newsom-recall-hit-1-million\/\" title=\"George Soros\u2019 Donations To Fight Newsom Recall Hit  Million\">media monitoring firm<\/a>, claiming that taxpayer funds were used to pay for the service.<\/p>\n<p>Merchant filed her motion on Wednesday in an attempt to force Willis to testify at the Thursday evidentiary hearing, arguing that the court should find her in contempt and &ldquo;have her brought into custody&rdquo; if she did not show up to the hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Although the judge said she was &ldquo;not going to entertain&rdquo; the defense attorney&rsquo;s motion, she told lawyers for Willis&rsquo;s office that it would likewise be premature to grant Willis&rsquo;s motion to quash the subpoena.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The motion to quash is not something that I&rsquo;m going to entertain right now. I&rsquo;m not going to relieve madam DA Willis,&rdquo; Krause said.<\/p>\n<p>For the remainder of the afternoon, Merchant asked several questions of Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Dexter Bond. Their exchanges were both tense and heated at times.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Do you as a matter of practice use email to request open records?&rdquo; Merchant asked.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Things are getting a bit heated between Ashleigh Merchan and Deputy DA, Dexter Bond. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LA9Ob83x9d\">pic.twitter.com\/LA9Ob83x9d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BlueATLGeorgia\/status\/1836835546360074721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 19, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It depends on what you&rsquo;re asking for. &hellip; Sometimes I do it orally. &hellip; Sometimes I have someone else send an email,&rdquo; Bond said.<\/p>\n<p>As the hearing continued into the afternoon and past 5 p.m. local time, the judge appeared more open to enforcing subpoenas against at least some of Willis&rsquo;s employees.<\/p>\n<p>However, it is not clear when Krause will make her ruling in the case.<\/p>\n<p>The hearing comes a day after another judge denied Willis&rsquo;s attempt to quash a subpoena that would force her to testify before a Georgia Senate committee, which is investigating her actions surrounding the Trump election interference case.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Willis has sustained even more setbacks in her case against Trump in recent weeks. The criminal case&rsquo;s trial Judge Scott McAfee has dismissed five of the original charges against Trump, bringing the total charges from 13 to eight.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>No trial can commence for the former president until the Georgia Court of Appeals rules on Trump&rsquo;s appeal of McAfee&rsquo;s original ruling to keep Willis on the case after defendants said her relationship with Wade should result in her disqualification from handling the case.<\/p>\n<p>The appeals court is slated to hear arguments over that effort in December, roughly one month after the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1704822\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1704822\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a heated hearing concerning the Georgia criminal case against former President Donald Trump, a judge permitted one of his co-defendants to issue a subpoena for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause initially declined to hold Willis in contempt for allegedly breaching state open records laws but later indicated that the option to subpoena her remained open. &#8220;Unless Ms. Willis is called to testify and fails to appear, she cannot be found in contempt,&#8221; Krause stated, emphasizing that both sides were prematurely seeking rulings without first hearing from other county officials involved in the civil lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit filed by Trump&#8217;s co-defendant earlier this year accuses Willis and her office of violating the Georgia Open Records Act by not providing documents related to Nathan Wade, a former special prosecutor who resigned due to his past relationship with Willis. The defense attorney representing Michael Roman also claimed that documents regarding a media monitoring firm were being concealed and suggested taxpayer funds had been misused.<\/p>\n<p>Although Merchant sought immediate action against Willis for not appearing at the evidentiary hearing, Judge Krause refused to consider this motion at that time while also stating it was too early to grant any motions from Willis&#8217;s office aimed at quashing the subpoena. Throughout the afternoon session, tensions rose as Merchant questioned Deputy District Attorney Dexter Bond about their practices regarding open records requests.<\/p>\n<p>As proceedings continued into late afternoon, Judge Krause seemed more inclined towards enforcing subpoenas against some of Willis&#8217;s staff members; however, it remains uncertain when she will deliver her ruling on these matters. This hearing followed another judge&#8217;s recent decision denying an attempt by Willis to quash a subpoena requiring her testimony before a Georgia Senate committee investigating her actions related to Trump&#8217;s election interference case.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, recent developments have seen several charges against Trump dismissed by trial Judge Scott McAfee\u2014reducing his total charges from 13 down to eight\u2014while no trial can proceed until the Georgia Court of Appeals resolves Trump&#8217;s appeal concerning McAfee\u2019s decision allowing Willis continued involvement in the case despite claims of conflict due to her relationship with Wade. The appeals court is expected to hear arguments on this matter in December, shortly after the 2024 presidential election<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2633,"featured_media":2343620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/fanitrumpcaseimmunity.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[14765,35250,32987,7836,3634],"class_list":["post-2343619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-co-defendant","tag-fani-willis","tag-fulton-county","tag-subpoena","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/fanitrumpcaseimmunity.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343619","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\/2633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2343619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2343619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2343620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2343619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2343619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2343619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}