Last month, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, a die-hard MAGA Republican who doesn’t let the U.S. Constitution get in the way of defending his leader, sent Fulton County, Georgia, Dist.

rict

atty Fani Willis has issued a list of demands for documents and information related to her racketeering investigation and indictment of former President Trump and his many, many co-conspirators.

He accused her of timing the charges to damage Trump’s presidential campaign. He suggested her office improperly used federal funds for the investigation. And he alleged that she improperly cooperated with Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who has accused the former president of conspiring to undermine American democracy and illegally handling classified documents.

Please provide this information as soon as possible, but no later than 10 a.m. on September 7, 2023, Jordan wrote.

Did Willis respond within Jordan’s deadline?

Has she ever done that?

Chairman Jordan, she wrote on September 7, I tell people that they often deal with reality, or reality will deal with you. It’s time you dealt with some basic realities.

First, and most importantly, she told the embattled former Ohio State assistant wrestling coach to speak out.

Your attempt to invoke Congress’ authority to interfere with an active criminal case in Georgia is in flagrant violation of the Constitution, Willis wrote. This violation of Georgian sovereignty is insulting and will not stand.

Jordan’s attempted interference is hardly unexpected. His behavior was, as the New York Times noted during the House Democrats’ first successful impeachment of Trump, part pit bull and part rat-a-tat auctioneer. He is nothing if not performative, appearing in Congress with his sleeves rolled up, always ready to pin down his political enemies.

On Thursday, turning to the federal case against Trump, Jordan tried to increase pressure on special counsel Smith. He announced he would launch an investigation into whether Smith’s office attempted extortion

by

a lawyer implicating his application for a judgeship would be viewed favorably by the Biden administration if his client, Trump Mar-a-Lago employee Walt Nauta, became a cooperating witness.

Please provide this material as soon as possible, but no later than 5:00 PM on September 21, 2023, Jordan wrote.

I want my popcorn ready.

But back to

Fani

Willis.

Her response to Jordan was notable not only for the way she shut him up, but also for her eloquence. While settled constitutional law clearly permits me to ignore your unwarranted and illegal infringement of a state criminal prosecution, she wrote, I will take a moment to voluntarily respond to portions of your letter.

She gives Jordan the “Explain like Im 5” treatment (a popular request on Reddit). She notes that Jordan is not a lawyer and asks him to give her the opportunity to give a quick tutorial on criminal conspiracy law.

The timing of the Georgia RICO charges, she wrote, is the result of uncooperative witnesses who needed subpoenas to compel their cooperation. Nor should Trump’s status as a political candidate make him immune from criminal prosecution. After all, he was fully aware of her research at the time he announced his candidacy.

Here’s another reality to face, she said. Those who want to avoid felony charges in Fulton County, Georgia should not commit crimes in Fulton County, Georgia.

My favorite part of her letter comes at the end, where she suggests that instead of wasting everyone’s time (my words), he could use his status as chairman of the Judiciary Committee to engage in productive activities.

He could, she offered, lead an effort to provide more federal funding to states and cities for victim-witness advocates, the severely underpaid professionals who care for victims and witnesses in prosecutors’ offices. He could push for bigger federal grants so the country can clear the backlog of untested rape kits

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deleted. (DNA from 40 serial rapists, she said, was discovered in 1,500 untested Fulton County kits from the 1990s, thanks to limited federal funds.) He was able to find money for overwhelmed state crime labs unable to provide timely tests on seized to carry out drugs. , included

fentanyl, or

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firearms used in violent crimes? How about expanding the Credible Messengers program, which matches children in legal trouble with adult mentors who have changed their lives?

Or maybe, just maybe, she wrote, Jordan will push the Justice Department to investigate the racist threats she and her associates have received because of her investigation.

Willis, who is black, has been inundated with verbal attacks and death threats, not only from random Trump-loving racists, but from the former president himself, who has described her as a rabid partisan and racist.

She weathered the storm with grace.

It’s not what they call you, it’s what you answer to, she recently told Maria Boynton, an anchor at a popular radio station in Atlanta. Although her name is much talked about as a potential Democratic gubernatorial candidate in purple Georgia, Willis says she dreams of a future without politics.

Now that she is halfway through her first four-year term, she would like to serve two more and then say goodbye to the law.

After that, said Willis, 52, who has tried dozens of murder cases, I want to be someone who throws parties. I think I’ve seen the worst of life, now I want to do something where everyone is happy.

I would hire her in a heartbeat.

@robinkabcarian