Fani Willis ‘angry’ and ‘hurt’ by personal attacks during Trump prosecution

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis revealed during a recent private fundraiser that she at times felt affected by the personal attacks lobbed at her amid her prosecution of former President Donald Trump.

Willis made the remarks, shared Wednesday on the podcast Politically Georgia, after disclosing weeks ago that her office has received a flood of threats since she indicted Trump and 18 others over allegations they illegally conspired to overturn the 2020 election.

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“If you are a leader, you’re gonna be attacked, and so, there are some days I’m human and I’m really angry or I’m hurt that somebody would tell a baldfaced lie on me,” she told donors, according to the recording.

She said the “craziest” example was an accusation that she was “sleeping with a gangbanger.”

“I’m like, ‘A 17-year-old? Like what? I like ‘em old!’” she said. “So, you have these personal moments where you’re like, ‘Why am I being personally attacked and all I’m out here trying to do is my job?'”

In August, Willis shared an expletive-laden message directed at her with county officials as an example of what her office had become “accustomed to” since she began investigating Trump, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Prosecutors have accused Trump, who is now involved in four criminal cases and a number of civil matters, of being a driving force behind the vitriol.

The former president has repeatedly raged at his top legal opponents using words like “deranged,” “radical,” “racist,” “disgrace,” “monster,” “thug,” “corrupt,” and “incompetent” on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump, who is the leading GOP presidential candidate, also shared a campaign video in August condemning four of his prosecutors, Willis, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and special counsel Jack Smith, as the “fraud squad.”

At one point that month, he posted on Truth Social, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

Judges in two of the cases responded to Trump’s public statements of outrage with gag orders.

New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron issued a narrow order in a civil case against Trump after the former president publicly insulted his clerk and shared a link to her Instagram account. Then, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered a broader set of restrictions, prohibiting Trump from making public statements that target prosecutors, court staff, or potential witnesses.

“Undisputed testimony cited by the government demonstrates that when Defendant has publicly attacked individuals, including on matters related to this case, those individuals are consequently threatened and harassed,” Chutkan wrote in the order.

Willis, for her part, has sought increased security for her and her staff, but Trump remains free to speak publicly about Willis at this stage.

According to the recording of the fundraiser, Willis cited Scripture as she addressed the attacks against her, saying, “What it told me is you ain’t special, that if you are a leader and you are put in a position that people are going to lie on you and they’re going to attack you, but you have to still do what is the mission.”

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Willis will face reelection next year in Fulton County, meaning she could appear on the same ballot as Trump should he secure the GOP’s presidential nomination.

The election could coincide with the trial, which begins next week for two of the co-defendants in the case but could drag on for at least a year or more depending on when Trump’s portion of the trial begins.