By Marc Morial
“I keep the promise of my oath to the United States and Georgia Constitutions and do not allow myself to be bullied and threatened by Members of Congress, local elected officials, or others who believe lady justice should not be blind and that America has different laws for different citizens.” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The FBI this week confirmed that it is investigating new threats against Fulton County officials in connection to the indictment of Donald Trump and others on charges of election interference in Georgia. While the FBI did not share details of the threat, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said earlier this month that the threats and harassment she has received ever since opening her investigation of Trump are “very grotesque.”
The FBI and other law enforcement agencies already are investigating an earlier spate of threats against Willis and the grand jurors who issued the indictments.
The chilling pattern of Trump’s most dangerous supporters threatening, attempting, or committing violence against anyone who defies Trump’s will or holds him accountable emerged even before his election and reached a peak on January 6, 2021.
But threats and acts of violence aren’t the only method Trump and his supporters are using to intimidate Willis: he and allies in Congress and the Georgia state legislature have targeted Willis with lies and baseless insinuations, threats to withhold federal funds to deprive her of the means to carry out her authority, and an unjustified campaign to sanction her or to oust her from her duly elected position, simply for holding Trump accountable for the law.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has denounced his colleague’s efforts, dismissing them as “political theater.” But they are far more sinister than that. They are deliberate and direct assaults on the foundations of democracy and the rule of law.
Trump has made no secret of his desire for the authoritarian power of a tyrant. He emulates Joseph Stalin by denouncing his critics as “enemies of the people.” He openly covets the oppressive control that brutal dictator Kim Jong Un holds over the people of North Korea. He called the extrajudicial execution of thousands of Filipinos, including at least 122 children, “the right way” to enforce drug laws. He’s vowed to pardon the violent insurrectionists who attacked Congress. He wants to purge the federal government of nonpartisan civil servants and replace them with loyalist accomplices and lackeys. He would use the Department of Justice to prosecute and imprison his adversaries.
In challenging the authority of Willis – or any prosecutor – to hold Trump accountable to the law, Trump’s henchmen are working to make Trump’s nightmarish vision a reality.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan hardly seeking to uphold the law with his unconstitutional demand that Willis turn over all documents related the case. On the contrary, as Willis observed in her scathing response, “Its obvious purpose is to obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding and to advance outrageous partisan misrepresentations.” Rep. Eric Swalwell, who serves on the committee, suggested Jordan and his cohorts have no intention of pursuing the documents, lest they dispel the “innuendo and allegation” Jordan is trying to create.
The National Urban League commends Willis’ grace under fire and her commitment to apply justice equitably. We pray for her safety and the safety of all the officials and grand jurors who face these obscene threats. And we call on every elected official to uphold their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution and defend the rule of law.
