Ex-staffer details alleged retaliation by Fulton DA's office

ATLANTA — A former employee of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office detailed to Georgia senators on Thursday how she was demoted and eventually fired after alleging her bosses were misspending federal grant dollars.

Amanda Timpson, who worked as director of gang prevention and intervention for the DA’s office, told members of the Special Committee on Investigations that she was retaliated against by DA Fani Willis and others for being a whistle-blower about two grant programs.

“I’m here today to fight for my reputation, to fight for the youth of Fulton County but also for the truth,” said Timpson, who began working in the DA’s office in late 2018 under then-DA Paul Howard until she was fired in early 2022.

Timpson alleged that her supervisors wanted to use federal funding meant for creating a center for youth empowerment and gang prevention for computers, swag and travel, expenses she said were ineligible under program rules. Her complaints about the alleged misspending ultimately led to her being harassed, demoted and terminated from the DA’s office, she testified.

Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for the DA’s office, said Timpson’s “claims of wrongdoing by this office are untrue. She has shopped her false claims in multiple courtrooms. Almost all have been rejected and we expect the remainder to be rejected soon.”

One of Timpson’s lawsuits was dismissed in federal court. Another, in Fulton Superior Court, is in the discovery phase, according to her attorney.

The panel’s chairman, Bill Cowsert, a Republican, said Timpson’s testimony provided evidence of financial improprieties by the DA’s office and that lawmakers may need to draft legislation addressing that.

“We need some standards of conduct for prosecutors,” he said. “Apparently there were no guardrails in place, or none that (Willis has) followed, but she claims there’s not. The general public is just dismayed by her conduct here.”

GOP lawmakers from Atlanta to Washington have seized on Timpson’s story as they seek to keep the spotlight on Willis amid the push to disqualify her from the election interference case involving former President Donald Trump and 14 others.

The Senate investigative committee was created earlier this year as nine defendants sought to remove Willis from the Trump case because of a romantic relationship the DA had with the probe’s lead prosecutor, Nathan Wade. Legislators initially said they wanted to investigate whether Willis improperly spent any state money on trips she took with Wade.

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