Fani Willis denies Trump campaign rumor of relationship with gang member: report

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is reportedly pushing back on rumors being spread by the Trump campaign in a TV ad.

Willis, who it was recently reported will be seeking more than a dozen indictments in the near future in her investigation into 2020 election tampering, called the allegations “derogatory and false" in an internal email, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's report on Wednesday.

"Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Wednesday flatly denied that she had a relationship with a former client and other rumors spread by former President Donald Trump in a new campaign ad," the outlet reported. "In an email to her colleagues, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Willis called the information in a television spot bankrolled by the Trump campaign 'derogatory and false.' She urged her staff not to respond to any of the allegations."

AJC senior reporter Tamar Hallerman included the following quote from the Willis email:

“You may not comment in any way on the ad or any of the negativity that may be expressed against me, your colleagues, this office in the coming days, weeks or months,” Willis wrote in the email, sent early Wednesday. “We have no personal feelings against those we investigate or prosecute and we should not express any.”

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Here's what she denied:

"In the minute-long ad, titled 'The Fraud Squad,' the narrator refers to Willis as 'Biden’s newest lackey.' It says that Willis presided over a sharp rise of violent crimes in Atlanta and highlights her office being disqualified from investigating Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in her long-running election interference case due to a political conflict of interest," the report states. "But the most incendiary allegation is that Willis 'got caught hiding a relationship with a gang member she was prosecuting.' It cites as evidence a Jan. 25, 2023, article in Rolling Stone."

The full report is available here.