Fani Willis can’t fight $17M bill in Trump prosecution, judge says

The Atlanta judge overseeing the scuttled 2020 election interference case against President Donald Trump and others has barred Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from fighting their request for almost $17 million in defense costs.

Willis was disqualified from the case before it was dismissed in November under a replacement prosecutor, allowing Trump and most of his co-defendants to seek attorney fees through a new Georgia law written with the case in mind.

On Monday afternoon, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee denied Willis’ request to be allowed back into the case to argue against the defendants’ attempt to get their costs reimbursed through her office.

McAfee granted Fulton County’s separate bid to intervene in the case, acknowledging it “provides the overwhelming source of funding for the daily functioning” of Willis’ office and doesn’t want it stripped of cash.

Willis told the judge in February that having to pay such a “preposterous sum” would wipe out her office’s annual budget.

“The financial buck appears likely in some form to eventually stop at the county’s desk,” McAfee said in his order. “One may safely assume it is in the county’s interest to have a functioning criminal justice system and prevent the effective shuttering of the office with sole prosecuting authority for all felonious conduct that occurs within its borders.”

Willis has already asked the judge for permission to immediately appeal the ruling and to stop the case from advancing while her appeal is considered.

“We believe the decision is wrong,” a spokesperson for Willis’ office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

McAfee has yet to decide the fee requests from Trump and 13 of his co-defendants, which total around $16.9 million. Most of the defendants, including Trump, opposed Willis’ attempt to intervene.

Trump’s lead attorney in the case, Steve Sadow, said McAfee was right to block Willis’ involvement. Sadow said Willis’ earlier disqualification bars her and her office from “any further participation in this dismissed, lawfare case.”

In a court filing Monday, Willis said any fee award imposed without her participation would “violate basic fundamental notions of due process by denying her an opportunity to be heard or even challenge the reasonableness of the claimed attorney fees before it is taken from her budget.”

She said Fulton County and the state prosecutor assigned to the case, Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia Executive Director Pete Skandalakis, cannot adequately protect her office’s interests.

“There must be representation by the party from whom will suffer the most harm,” Willis wrote.

Skandalakis and a county spokesperson said Tuesday they have no comment on the order.

In a January court filing, Skandalakis questioned the defendants’ eligibility to seek attorney fees under the new Georgia law, which he said was “probably unconstitutional.” He also doubted his authority to represent the interests of Willis or Fulton County in the “unprecedented and unusual” case.

When seeking to intervene in the case in January, Fulton County said it is not obligated under the new state law to cover any award against Willis’ office, which it said is an arm of the state and not the county.

The state pays the salary of district attorneys and certain staff within their offices.

“The county has a very strong interest in being heard on the issue of the proper interpretation of the statute,” the county said. “Moreover, the county has a very strong interest in the implications of any award against the DA’s office as it will inevitably affect future budgeting requests from such office.”

McAfee acknowledged in his order Monday that “novelty abounds” in the case, given it is the first test of the new state law allowing defendants to get reimbursed by disqualified prosecutors in certain situations.

He said Willis’ intervention is not necessary or warranted due to Skandalakis’ participation.

Willis seemed “all too eager” to relitigate and defend the merits of her sweeping racketeering case, though the Georgia Court of Appeals had determined she can no longer ethically make those arguments, McAfee said.

Once seen as among the most promising criminal prosecutions of Trump, the case collapsed amid scrutiny of Willis’ romantic and financial ties to Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor she hired to help lead it.