Trump seeks $6.2M from Fani Willis’ office for criminal defense
President Donald Trump is seeking more than $6.2 million from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office to cover his attorney fees and litigation costs in the recently dismissed criminal election interference case.
Trump’s motion for attorney fees, filed Wednesday afternoon in Fulton County Superior Court, says he’s entitled to compensation under a new Georgia law, because DA Fani Willis was thrown off her own “politically motivated” case that was subsequently tossed.
The president wants $6,261,613.
Several of his 18 co-defendants have also sought their attorney fees and costs, totaling more than $2.3 million. Others are expected to file similar motions in coming days.
“Each of the necessary elements have been met: DA Willis was disqualified based upon improper conduct, the criminal case was dismissed, and the criminal case was pending when the statute went into effect,” Trump’s motion says of his eligibility for compensation under the Georgia law.
The state Legislature created a pathway last year for criminal defendants to recover expenses associated with their defense when prosecutors are dismissed for misconduct. The law was designed with the Trump case in mind, according to supporters and opponents alike.
The Fulton DA’s office has asked Judge Scott McAfee to let it argue against the defendants’ bid for attorney fees.
In a Dec. 14 filing, the office said the new law is rife with problems, including a lack of procedural safeguards for prosecutors on the hook. It said Fulton taxpayers are unfairly exposed to financial burden.
The DA’s office also told the court the election interference case against Trump and his alleged associates was “neither arbitrary nor political.”
“It was the product of an exhaustive investigation spanning years, followed by a charging recommendation issued by an investigative grand jury after its review of extensive evidence and testimony from no fewer than seventy-five witnesses, and culminating in a criminal indictment returned by a separate grand jury,” the office wrote.
Trump’s co-defendants who sought attorney fees and litigation costs last month are John Eastman, Ray Smith and Robert Cheeley. They want $817,019, $167,760 and $1,347,703, respectively.
Willis’ sweeping election interference case against Trump and his supporters went sideways in early 2024, when she was accused of having an improper romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a private attorney she had hired to work on the case.
That line of inquiry led to the removal of Willis and her office from the prosecution, which no other district attorneys in the state wanted to take. In the end, Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia Executive Director Pete Skandalakis dropped the charges, saying the alleged criminal conduct amounted to more of a federal, not state, case.
In his motion for attorney fees and litigation costs, Eastman had harsh words about Willis’ alleged relationship with Wade and said the private attorney was paid more than $650,000 for his work on the case.
Steven Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, doubled down Wednesday on the notion the case was political.
“In accordance with Georgia law, President Trump has moved the court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in his defense of the politically motivated, and now rightfully dismissed, case brought by disqualified DA Fani Willis,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
About the Author
Journalist Rosie Manins is a legal affairs reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
