Ashleigh Merchant, the defense attorney for Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, filed a motion for contempt of court against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Wednesday.
Fani Willis skipped the hearing on Friday even though a special state committee subpoenaed her.
As previously reported, Fani Willis is trying to block subpoenas requiring her to testify before a Georgia State Senate Committee about her relationship with Nathan Wade after she was caught perjuring herself.
Fani Willis had an illicit affair with Nathan Wade, the top prosecutor she hired to hunt down Trump in her RICO and conspiracy case against the former president.
In February 2024 Fani Willis testified under oath that her relationship with her then-top prosecutor Nathan Wade had ended months ago.
The Republican-led committee was unable to question Fani Willis about her “misconduct” related to Trump’s RICO case and affair with Nathan Wade because she was a no-show.
Fani Willis was subpoenaed for documents related to hiring and payments made to Nathan Wade as well as communications between the two. The Committee also subpoenaed Fani Willis for documents related to her office’s communications with the Biden White House and Justice Department about President Trump.
Lawyers for the Georgia senate committee argued that Fani Willis used the wrong legal arguments to challenge the subpoenas.
Ashleigh Merchant filed a motion to enforce the subpoena of Fani Willis to require her to testify at an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Thursday.
“According to social media posts, as of September 17, 2024, Ms. Willis was in Los Angeles, California attending fundraising events for her re-election campaign,” Ashleigh Merchant wrote.
“Ms. Willis is under lawful subpoena, and she has not filed a motion to quash, nor could she. She is simply flouting this Court’s lawful process, apparently intent on playing a game of chicken with the Court,” she said.
“Following the September 5, 2024 hearing, counsel for Ms. Willis indicated that, “[i]f the witness has been properly served, there is no need to have them reserved.” (See Exhibit E). Plaintiff followed up and asked if counsel for Ms. Willis had any reason to believe a witness for the prior hearing had not been properly served so that we would have time to correct any deficiency in service,” Merchant wrote.
“Now that Plaintiff knows for certain that Ms. Willis does not intend to comply with her lawful subpoena, Plaintiff respectfully moves the Court for an order requiring her attendance at tomorrow’s evidentiary hearing,” she said.
Ashleigh Merchant said Fani Willis has “not provided any reason for why she is refusing to appear pursuant to lawful subpoenas”
BREAKING @AshleighMerchan files Motion for Contempt of Court against Fulton DA #FaniWillis pic.twitter.com/uyAf9LzdUk
— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) September 19, 2024
