Georgia state Sen. Greg Dolezal plans to investigate a $2 million no-bid federal grant that the Biden administration allegedly steered to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis while she was building her criminal case against Donald Trump over the 2020 election, a grant the Republican lawmaker now suggests may have served as a financial incentive to prosecute.
Dolezal, who has already led a state-level investigation into Willis's handling of the Trump prosecution, told Just the News's "No Noise TV" that the grant is the next front in his inquiry. The Daily Caller reported Monday that the senator wants to determine whether the Department of Justice award functioned as a "carrot", a reward dangled in exchange for pursuing the case.
The question at the center of the probe is straightforward: Did the Biden DOJ use taxpayer money to encourage a local prosecutor to go after a political rival? If the grant trail leads where Dolezal suspects, the implications reach well beyond Fulton County.
The $2 million award was granted under the DOJ's 2022 Office of Justice Programs Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative. The solicitation opened in April 2022 as a competitive grant, Just the News reported. But the money was apparently delivered to Willis's county as a "sole source" award, meaning no other applicant competed for it.
That distinction matters. The DOJ's own fact sheet classifies sole-source procurement as "noncompetitive," since only one entity vied for the funds. A grant that starts as an open competition and ends with a single recipient raises an obvious question: was the process shaped to guarantee the outcome?
Just the News reported in February that Willis was allegedly "invited" to apply for the grant while her office was actively investigating Trump. No direct documentary proof of that invitation has been made public. The Fulton County District Attorney's office had not returned the Daily Caller's request for comment as of publication.
Dolezal pointed to a specific moment in late 2022 as the catalyst. He referenced what he called Biden's "bat signal" on November 13, 2022. The senator paraphrased Biden's posture this way:
"We're going to ensure, by any means possible, that we demonstrate that Donald Trump will not take office."
The remark Dolezal appears to be referencing came during a November 9, 2022 presidential press briefing, where Biden said he would "have to demonstrate that [Trump] will not take power... I'm making sure he, under legitimate efforts of our Constitution, does not become the next president again."
Willis, meanwhile, had told Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in a letter that her probe included investigations into possible "solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election's administration." Trump had made allegations of election fraud in Georgia in early 2021 and pressed state officials to act, prompting the investigation into him and some of his allies.
The broader context of Georgia's 2020 election disputes has only deepened in recent months. The FBI itself has identified irregularities in the Georgia 2020 vote, adding new layers to a controversy that Willis's office treated as settled law while pursuing Trump.
Dolezal also raised pointed questions about Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor Willis hired to lead the Trump case, and whose romantic relationship with Willis ultimately helped sink the prosecution. Dolezal told the outlet that Wade "spent eight hours on the phone with the White House."
"Now, of course, he can't remember what that eight-hour conversation was about, but we've got our guesses as to what it was about."
Wade told Dolezal during a March subpoena appearance that he did not recall much of his role with the House January 6 committee. Just the News reported, citing documents, that Willis's office worked extensively with Biden's DOJ, the White House, and Democrats on the House January 6 investigative committee while handling the criminal case against Trump.
That coordination, between a local DA's office, the White House, and a congressional committee, is exactly the kind of entanglement that Dolezal's investigation is designed to trace. A special prosecutor who logged eight hours of calls with the White House and then couldn't recall what was discussed is not a reassuring picture of independence.
Willis has also been battling the financial aftermath of the collapsed prosecution. She is currently fighting to dismiss $17 million in legal fee claims from defendants in the Georgia case, a reminder that the wreckage of her office's conduct extends in multiple directions.
Dolezal's grant investigation comes on top of an already contentious subpoena fight. Fox News reported that a Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations said arresting Willis or holding her in criminal contempt remains a possible enforcement option if she continues defying lawful subpoenas for testimony and documents tied to the Trump case. The committee's attorney, Josh Belinfante, said courts have ruled the subpoenas lawful and that Willis has no remaining clear legal path to appeal.
Dolezal previously said Willis participated in four hours of questioning but spent the time on offense. He described her as "dodging questions, lashing out, [and] refusing to answer straight."
"Her demeanor and conduct was unacceptable for anyone, let alone a District Attorney for Fulton County."
The senator's frustration was also visible on social media. On April 12, 2026, Dolezal posted on X: "Hope everyone has a great Masters Sunday, even unhinged lunatics like Fani Willis!", language that was blunt even by the standards of Georgia political combat.
The Washington Times reported that the Georgia state Senate special committee, created in January 2024, has focused on Willis's hiring of Wade and allegations that their romantic relationship created a conflict of interest. The Georgia Court of Appeals ultimately removed Willis from the Trump case, citing an "appearance of impropriety." Another prosecutor later dismissed the case entirely.
Federal investigators have also been active in Georgia's election landscape. FBI raids on Georgia election offices have added to the sense that the state's 2020 election apparatus is under serious scrutiny from multiple directions.
The timeline Dolezal is assembling is circumstantial but dense. Biden publicly declared his intent to prevent Trump from returning to power. Weeks later, a $2 million federal grant, opened as competitive, awarded as sole-source, landed in the lap of the prosecutor building a criminal case against Trump. That prosecutor's handpicked special counsel logged hours of calls with the White House he now claims not to remember. And the prosecutor's office, by documented accounts, coordinated with both the DOJ and the House January 6 committee.
None of that proves a quid pro quo. But it is exactly the kind of pattern that demands a thorough accounting, the kind Willis's office has so far refused to provide.
Breitbart reported that state Senate committee chairman Bill Cowsert said the panel is "not on some witch hunt against Fani Willis" but wants to establish standards so that "other prosecutors don't engage in that behavior." Cowsert said Willis had agreed to appear for testimony after earlier efforts to compel her failed.
The political fallout from Georgia's election disputes continues to reverberate at the highest levels of government. Federal action directed at Georgia election offices has drawn sharp reactions from both parties, underscoring how deeply the state remains at the center of the national argument over 2020.
Dolezal's next move is to trace the grant money, where it came from, how it was awarded, who invited Willis to apply, and whether the timing was more than coincidence. The committee's attorney has set an April 15 deadline for documents and is pushing for Willis's testimony in late April or early May.
Willis has shown little interest in cooperating. Courts have backed the legislature's authority. And the question hanging over Fulton County is no longer just whether Willis mishandled a prosecution, it's whether the federal government helped pay for one.
When $2 million in taxpayer money flows from Washington to a local prosecutor chasing the sitting president's chief political opponent, the public deserves a full accounting. So far, all they've gotten is silence and stonewalling.
