Remember when Robert Mueller became a household name during Donald Trump's first impeachment? A district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, might achieve the same kind of fame if she becomes the first prosecutor to get the former president indicted on formal charges.
Fani T. Willis has been described as a "Pit-bull" prosecutor who's seeking charges against Trump for his actions trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. But what do we know about Willis, who is suddenly caught up in criticism over her frequent media appearances and some political fundraising she's done that may have hampered the case?
Willis, 51, has been in her role for more than two years as the first Black woman as D.A. in Georgia's largest county. The career trial lawyer campaigned for the role on a platform of making the department more transparent and focusing on "reducing crime by changing lives rather than seeking retribution," including giving pre-indictment first offenders a second chance instead of a criminal record. Even so, her office's conviction rate is about 90 percent, according to her spokespeople.
She's spoken out about her pursuit of charges against Trump, predictably drawing his ire. He's called her a "radical left prosecutor" and has denied charges that he acted illegally to try to overturn the election that Joe Biden won.
It's not a slam-dunk case, though; Willis is fielding criticism that there are too many leaks coming from the special grand jury and that she's jeopardizing the case by making too many charges in public against Trump and his former presidential administration.
Her critics and fans, though, agree that she's a powerhouse and unintimidated by huge cases like the Trump investigation. Fani Willis is a name you're going to be hearing a lot of in the coming months as the case progresses.
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