Kinaya Willis, the 25-year-old daughter of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, was arrested on August 24, 2024, in Tyrone, Georgia, for allegedly driving with a suspended license. Given her mother's prominent role in spearheading the criminal election interference case against former President Donald Trump, the arrest is a noteworthy development.
Officers from the Tyrone Police Department pulled over Kinaya, a pregnant student at Texas Southern University, when they saw her using a telephone while operating her 2010 Nissan Altima. As per the incident record that DailyMail.com managed to get, Kinaya told the cops that she was on her phone because her mother had phoned to inquire about her pregnancy. But as the cops looked into it, they found that Kinaya's license had been suspended on May 13, 2024, for the identical driving crime.
Kinaya was searched, placed in handcuffs, and transported to the Fayette County Jail after being notified that her license was suspended. Driving while having a suspended or revoked license was a criminal offense against her. A short while later, Fani Willis showed up to claim her daughter's car. Kinaya appeared exhausted and sad in a booking photo taken at the prison.
According to public records, Kinaya was freed from detention and is expected to appear for an arraignment on October 24, 2024, in the Town of Tyrone Municipal Court. Driving while your license is suspended in Georgia entails a minimum two-day prison sentence, a minimum $500 fine, and a six-month suspension extension. A second infraction carries a $1,000–$2,500 fine and a minimum 10-day prison sentence.
As soon as a reporter from DailyMail.com called Fani Willis to inquire about Kinaya's detention, she abruptly interrupted the conversation. Requests for comments from Kinaya were not answered.
The difficulties Fani Willis, a well-known Democratic district attorney who attracted national notice for obtaining an indictment against Donald Trump and eighteen others in a case involving alleged attempts to void Georgia's 2020 election results, now faces are exacerbated by this arrest. The lawsuit, which was filed under Georgia's anti-racketeering statute, resulted in the public publication of the first-ever mugshot of a former American president.
There has been controversy around the continuing court struggle. Mike Roman, a former White House official, said in January 2024 that Fani Willis had an affair with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she had been assigned to handle the Trump case. Wade reportedly used his money to finance holidays with Willis, so Willis gained financially from the relationship, according to Roman's attorneys. Willis acknowledged the relationship, but she asserted that the two had split the expenses and denied any misconduct. Even when a court criticized Willis for his "tremendous lapse in judgment," Wade decided to step out, but Willis remained on the case.
The dispute will remain unresolved until after the 2024 presidential election since the Georgia Court of Appeals is not anticipated to hear arguments in connection with this appeal until December 2024.
For Fani Willis and her family, the heightened public attention and court challenges have been taxing. At a Fulton County police event in May 2024, Willis broke down in tears and thanked the policemen for defending her and her family from several threats, including a "swatting" episode when someone falsely reported a murder at her residence.
Fred Willis, Kinaya's father, had expressed his opinion earlier in March 2024, saying that the Trump case had negatively impacted the family. He denied allegations presented in court that one of his daughters had "moved to California and flunked out of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University." Kinaya had left FAMU during the COVID-19 epidemic, according to Fred Willis, and had subsequently gone to Texas Southern University, where she had finished with a 3.3 GPA and was getting ready for law school.
From 2017 until 2020—a year before her mother was elected Fulton County District Attorney—Kinaya Willis attended FAMU. Kinaya interviewed her mother on topics like "millennial justice" and the value of female role models in the criminal justice system while she was a senior at FAMU majoring in journalism.