Fani Willis Ordered To Pay $54K For ‘Intentional’ Violations In Trump Case
Disgraced Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been ordered to pay more than $54,000 for violating Georgia’s open records laws while prosecuting a case against President Donald Trump.
Willis, who led the political witch hunt against Trump related to the 2020 Georgia election, committed numerous crimes while prosecuting the case, including perjury and violation of Georgia’s open records laws. She was ultimately disqualified from the case.
Willis famously hired her affair partner, Nathan Wade, as a special assistant district attorney to prosecute Trump, then lied about her relationship with him under oath.
Now, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause has ordered Willis to pay $54,264 in attorneys’ fees and litigation costs after she deliberately withheld documents related to Wade.
In the order issued on March 14, Krause noted that Willis had “intentionally” failed to hand over these documents that were requested by attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who filed the motion to disqualify Willis from the case against Trump.
Krause went on to note that Willis’ office specifically refused to hand over the documents related to Wade’s employment at the district attorney’s office.
“Defendants — through the Open Records custodian, Dexter Bond — were openly hostile to counsel for Plaintiff, Ms. Merchant, and testified that Ms. Merchant’s requests were handled differently than other requests,” the judge’s order stated.
Bond reportedly testified that he would typically call the individual who requested the documents in order to obtain more information about the requests, but admitted that this was not the case for Merchant’s request — as he indicated that he refused to speak to her on the phone.
“While there is no requirement under the ORA for Mr. Bond to call any requestor about a particular request, Mr. Bond’s handling of Ms. Merchant’s requests in this manner indicates a lack of good faith,” the order explained.
“Defendants’ failures were intentional, not done in good faith, and were substantially groundless and vexatious,” the order continued.
Willis will now have 30 days to pay the $54,264 fine in full.
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