Georgia D.A. Fani Willis May Have Fired Staffer Who Reported On Abuse Of Federal Funds


ATLANTA, GEORGIA - NOVEMBER 21: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appears before Judge Scott McAfee for a hearing in the 2020 Georgia election interference case at the Fulton County Courthouse on November 21, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. Judge McAfee heard arguments as to whether co-defendant Harrison Floyd should be sent to jail for social media posts and comments that potentially targeted witnesses in the trial. McAfee declined to revoke Floyd's bond. Floyd was charged along with former US President Donald Trump and 17 others in an indictment that accuses them of illegally conspiring to subvert the will of Georgia voters in the 2020 presidential election. (Photo by Dennis Byron-Pool/Getty Images)
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appears before Judge Scott McAfee for a hearing in the 2020 Georgia election interference case at the Fulton County Courthouse on November 21, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Dennis Byron-Pool/Getty Images)

OAN’s Taylor Tinsley
3:06 PM – Wednesday, January 31, 2023

A former staffer of Fani Willis, the Georgia district attorney prosecuting Donald Trump for election interference, can be heard warning Willis that her top aide was abusing federal funds in a leaked audio recording. 

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The Washington Free Beacon released the audio on Wednesday. It includes recordings of a conversation between Willis and a former staffer, Amanda Timpson, in November of 2021.

“Once I told him about his lack of leadership and the fact he wanted to do things with grants that were impossible, and I kept telling him like we can’t do that and questioning stuff, he would take me off projects, tell people I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to because I questioned him,” Timpson told Willis.

The former staffer told Willis that she had been demoted after trying to prevent the DA’s top campaign aide, Michael Cuffee, from misusing federal grant money that was meant for an initiative over youth gang prevention.

Cuffee was allegedly planning to use some of the $488,594 grant for computers, travel and “swag.”

“I said you cannot do that, it’s a very very specific grant, (he) took me off,” Timpson continued. “I didn’t not want to do it, he made it look as if I wasn’t doing what I needed to do because I questioned him.”

“So I respect that is your assessment,” Willis replied. “It was clear to me that you and Mr. Cuffee were not getting along and I’m not saying your assessment was wrong, I really want you to listen to the words I’m saying.”

Willis later acknowledged that Cuffee “failed” her administration, but Timpson was fired nearly two months after their conversation. She was escorted out of the building and flanked by multiple investigators. 

Timpson filed a complaint in Fulton County in late 2022 seeking damages for lost pay. 

Willis’s office denied Timpson was wrongfully terminated, saying she was “a holdover from the last administration” and didn’t meet her office’s standards.

Cuffee told the Free Beacon that “this is just a money grab” for Timpson. He also claimed that he planned on using money for computers and “swag” from a different fund.

Following Timpsons termination, however, county records show the DA’’s office spent $1,245 from the gang prevention fund to purchase items from Dell.

Records also show that in 2020, Willis’s office spent thousands of dollars to purchase computers, travel, hotels, and car rentals from a $2 million grant meant for the Atlanta Police Department.

The audio comes amid speculation that Willis shared a romantic relationship with the prosecutor she hired for Trump’s case, Nathan Wade, who she paid over $600,000.

The pair are accused of using taxpayer dollars to fund trips to Napa Valley, Florida and a cruise to the Caribbean.

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