Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been ordered to pay over $54,000 after the Democrat prosecutor failed to provide requested records in her case against President Donald Trump.
The county’s Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause found that Willis violated the state’s open records laws in relation to her anti-Trump case.
Judge Krause formalized her Friday ruling and ordered Willis to pay $54,264 in attorneys’ fees and litigation costs.
The judge found that Willis “intentionally” failed to provide records requested by Ashleigh Merchant.
Merchant is the attorney who filed the motion to disqualify Willis from prosecuting Trump on charges of allegedly interfering with the 2020 presidential election.
Krause stated that Willis’ office failed to provide documents related to the employment of Nathan Wade.
Wade, the former special assistant district attorney, was forced to resign from the Trump case when his secret romantic relationship with Willis was exposed.
Merchant believed that Willis and Wade may have financially benefited from Wade’s appointment as the special prosecutor in the case.
The court order from Krause said:
“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.”
Bond testified that his usual practice was to call a requestor to receive additional information to fulfill requests.
The court order stated that Bond indicated that he refused to communicate with Merchant by telephone.
“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 said.
“Defendants’ failures were intentional, not done in good faith, and were substantially groundless and vexatious.”
Merchant reacted to the ruling in a post on X.
She said she was “proud that we have judges willing to hold people in power accountable when they ignore the law!!!!”
Willis’s office has yet to issue a statement in response to the ruling.
The DA’s office has 30 days from the court’s order to pay the penalty.
The plaintiff also received injunctive relief directing Willis to finally provide the requested documents.
