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.
Additionally, Willis’s office denied Timpson was wrongfully terminated, claiming that she was “a holdover from the last administration” and did not meet her office’s standards.
Later, Cuffee told the Free Beacon that “this is just a money grab” for Timpson. He also claimed that he planned on utilizing funds for computers and “swag” from a separate fund.
However, following Timpsons termination, county records showed that 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 that was meant for the Atlanta Police Department.
The audio comes amid speculation that Willis had a romantic relationship with the prosecutor that she hired for Trump’s case, Nathan Wade, whom she had 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, among other vacation spots.
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