After more than a year of legal arguments, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is set to appear before a special Georgia Senate committee examining her prosecution of President Trump on Wednesday.

Lawmakers created the Senate Special Committee on Investigations in January 2024 to look into allegations of "various forms of misconduct" against Willis concerning her prosecution against Mr. Trump and others over efforts to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss in Georgia. 

Willis has resisted attempts to compel her to testify and did not show up last year when subpoenaed. Her attorneys argued that the 2024 panel lacked the constitutional authority to force her to appear. The legal battle over a previous judge's decision on the subpoena is still in the court system.

This year, the Senate committee issued a new subpoena after legislators passed a law explicitly laying out their subpoena powers. Willis agreed to appear under the new subpoena.

Former Gov. Roy Barnes, representing Willis, has argued the old subpoena was defective because it wasn't issued by both the House and Senate. The new law explicitly says one chamber may authorize subpoenas without the other chamber concurring.

Although Willis has agreed to appear, Barnes suggested more wrangling may come.

"You can't just pick somebody out and say, we're going to embarrass you, we're going to try you, we're going to harass you," Barnes told the Georgia Supreme Court justices last week. "So we'll make an appropriate objection at the time. I'm not a potted plant."

Four of the five Republicans on the committee are running for statewide office in 2026. Chairman Bill Cowsert is running for attorney general, while Sens. Greg Dolezal of Cumming, Blake Tillery of Vidalia, and Steve Gooch of Dahlonega are each seeking the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Another Republican who had been on the committee, John Kennedy of Macon, resigned from the Senate on Dec. 8, to pursue his own lieutenant governor bid.

A presidential indictment and a romantic complication

The resolution creating the committee focused on Willis' hiring of special prosecutor Nathan Wade to lead the election interference case. It said a romantic relationship between the two amounted to a "clear conflict of interest and a fraud upon the taxpayers."

But in January 2024, a defense attorney in Fulton County's case against Mr. Trump and his allies alleged that Willis was involved in an improper romantic relationship with Wade.

In an extraordinary hearing, both Willis and Wade testified about the intimate details of their relationship. They both vehemently denied allegations that it constituted a conflict of interest.

The trial judge chided Willis for a "tremendous lapse in judgment," ultimately ruling that Willis could remain on the case if Wade resigned, which he did hours later.

But after defense attorneys appealed, the Georgia Court of Appeals cited an "appearance of impropriety" and removed Willis from the case. The state Supreme Court in September declined to hear Willis' appeal.

In November, Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia Executive Director Peter J. Skandalakis stepped in to replace Willis as the lead prosecutor. In the days afterward, he filed a motion informing the court of his decision to abandon the prosecution, arguing that the acts listed in the indictment "are not acts I would consider sufficient" to sustain a racketeering case.

A Fulton County Superior Court judge dismissed the case on Nov. 26.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.