Fani Willis Is Going to Pay Big for Violating State Law While Prosecuting Trump

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis just got some more horrible news. A judge has ordered her to pay over $54,000 in attorney’s fees and hand over documents her office held in violation of Georgia’s Open Records Act.

Willis withheld important documentation related to the prosecution against President Donald Trump. Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney who filed an open records request to obtain information related to Willis’ inappropriate relationship with another prosecutor she had appointed to Trump’s case, said she had been “completely stonewalled” by Willis’ office in September 2023, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Merchant said she requested about a dozen sets of records from the DA’s office, including non-disclosure agreements employees are required to sign, a list of attorneys hired by Willis since taking office and receipts for the DA’s contract with a New York-based “media monitoring service.”

The ruling, issued Friday by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause, marks a rare win for those seeking access to public records held by government agencies.

Krause determined the DA’s office failed to comply with Georgia’s Open Records Act by withholding public documents and said those failures “were intentional, not done in good faith, and were substantially groundless and vexatious.”

Because the DA’s office lacked justification for denying the records, Willis’ office must pay attorney fees and litigation expenses to Merchant, her husband, John, and the attorney couple’s paralegal, all of whom worked to get the records, the judge ruled.

I’m proud of my friends ⁦@AshleighMerchan⁩ and John Merchant for their pursuit of the truth in the Fani Willis Fiasco

Willis’ handling of requests indicates a lack of good faith. Defendants’ failures were intentional, not in good faith, were groundless and vexatious” pic.twitter.com/mJxfI2Zd30

— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) March 17, 2025

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