A judge ordered the Fulton County district attorney, who was disqualified from the Trump case, to pay legal fees.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been ordered by a Georgia judge to pay $54,000 for violating open records laws in relation to her prosecution against President Donald Trump.
Willis’s office brought charges against Trump and more than a dozen others in relation to the 2020 election, accusing the then-former president and others of violating state racketeering laws and trying to subvert that election.
A lawsuit that was brought by a Georgia attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, who represents one of Trump’s codefendants, former aide Michael Roman, sought attorney fees and injunctive relief, claiming that Willis did not provide records that the attorney requested.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause wrote on March 14 that the district attorney’s office was “openly hostile” to Merchant and did not handle her requests in a proper way, accusing the office of “a lack of good faith.”
“Defendants’ failures were intentional, not done in good faith, and were substantially groundless and vexatious,” she said.
“Based on the evidence offered at the hearing and the record as a whole, defendants’ failure to comply was not substantially justified, and plaintiff is entitled to attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses,” the judge also wrote, noting that the plaintiffs had sought $54,264 based on Merchant’s office’s work on the case.
Willis’s office also failed to hand over documents related to the employment of her former special counsel in the Trump case, Nathan Wade, who was forced to resign last year after it was revealed in court that Willis and Wade engaged in a relationship, the judge added. A separate judge ordered either Wade or Willis to leave the case, adding that an “odor of mendacity” persisted over the matter.
Before the judge’s ruling, Merchant, in a court hearing last year, said that she believed Wade and Willis both financially benefitted from Wade having been appointed as her special counsel, pointing to vacations the two had taken. The two denied her allegations.
“Proud that we have judges willing to hold people in power accountable when they ignore the law,” Merchant wrote on social media platform X on March 14 as the order was handed down.
The district attorney’s office has 30 days to pay the fees and also has to provide the requested documents to Merchant under the order.
The Willis case was one of four cases that were brought against Trump, with only one going to a verdict. Trump was accused by prosecutors in New York City of falsifying business records in connection to payments that he made at the end of the 2016 election, ultimately leading a jury to convict him.
Two cases that were brought by former special counsel Jack Smith had accused Trump of trying to overturn the election and for illegally retaining classified documents. Smith left the Department of Justice as Trump took office as president.
In December, Willis was disqualified from prosecuting the case against Trump by the Georgia Court of Appeals due to an “appearance of impropriety” and a conflict of interest caused by her erstwhile relationship with Wade. Willis filed an appeal of the disqualification with the state Supreme Court in January.
“No Georgia court has ever disqualified a district attorney for the mere appearance of impropriety without the existence of an actual conflict of interest,” the filing states.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.