Fani Willis slams $17 million legal fees demand from Trump and former codefendants
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pushed back against President Donald Trump and his former codefendants’ effort to recover nearly $17 million in legal fees Wednesday following the collapse of her sweeping 2020 election interference case, warning it could consume her office’s fiscal budget.
In a Wednesday filing in Fulton County Superior Court, Willis said her office “has no intention of allowing Fulton County taxpayers” to foot the bill for what she called “an absurd amount for such an absurd reason,” arguing that paying the requested sums could consume a “significant percentage (perhaps all)” of her office’s annual budget.
Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis speaks at Turner Chapel AME church Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Marietta, Georgia. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Trump is seeking more than $6.2 million in attorney fees. Combined with requests from some of the 18 other defendants originally charged in the racketeering case, the total request approaches $17 million, according to Pete Skandalakis, chairman of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia.
The fee demands stem from a Georgia law passed last year that allows criminal defendants to seek reimbursement for legal costs if the prosecuting district attorney is disqualified from the case.
Willis was removed after courts found that her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created an “appearance of impropriety” and exhibited an “odor of mendacity.” The Georgia Supreme Court earlier declined to hear her appeal of that decision.
Skandalakis, whose office assumed control of the case after Willis’s disqualification, later moved to dismiss the charges entirely. On the day before Thanksgiving, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee granted that request, ending the prosecution.
In her latest filing, Willis sharply criticized the reimbursement statute, calling it a “punitive, nonsensical schema” that could force taxpayers to pay millions simply because a successor prosecutor opted to drop charges.
“The defendants are asking that the District Attorney’s budget and the taxpayers’ funds be handed over to the Trump Campaign and the Georgia Republican Party for expenses including luxury hotels and seafood lunches,” the filing reads, characterizing some claimed costs as “truly astonishing,” including high-end travel, meals, media communications, and unexplained research expenses.
Trump’s Georgia attorney Steve Sadow balked at Willis’s assertions in a …
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pushed back against President Donald Trump and his former codefendants’ effort to recover nearly $17 million in legal fees Wednesday following the collapse of her sweeping 2020 election interference case, warning it could consume her office’s fiscal budget.
In a Wednesday filing in Fulton County Superior Court, Willis said her office “has no intention of allowing Fulton County taxpayers” to foot the bill for what she called “an absurd amount for such an absurd reason,” arguing that paying the requested sums could consume a “significant percentage (perhaps all)” of her office’s annual budget.
Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis speaks at Turner Chapel AME church Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Marietta, Georgia. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Trump is seeking more than $6.2 million in attorney fees. Combined with requests from some of the 18 other defendants originally charged in the racketeering case, the total request approaches $17 million, according to Pete Skandalakis, chairman of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia.
The fee demands stem from a Georgia law passed last year that allows criminal defendants to seek reimbursement for legal costs if the prosecuting district attorney is disqualified from the case.
Willis was removed after courts found that her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created an “appearance of impropriety” and exhibited an “odor of mendacity.” The Georgia Supreme Court earlier declined to hear her appeal of that decision.
Skandalakis, whose office assumed control of the case after Willis’s disqualification, later moved to dismiss the charges entirely. On the day before Thanksgiving, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee granted that request, ending the prosecution.
In her latest filing, Willis sharply criticized the reimbursement statute, calling it a “punitive, nonsensical schema” that could force taxpayers to pay millions simply because a successor prosecutor opted to drop charges.
“The defendants are asking that the District Attorney’s budget and the taxpayers’ funds be handed over to the Trump Campaign and the Georgia Republican Party for expenses including luxury hotels and seafood lunches,” the filing reads, characterizing some claimed costs as “truly astonishing,” including high-end travel, meals, media communications, and unexplained research expenses.
Trump’s Georgia attorney Steve Sadow balked at Willis’s assertions in a …
Fani Willis slams $17 million legal fees demand from Trump and former codefendants
This looks less like justice and more like strategy.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pushed back against President Donald Trump and his former codefendants’ effort to recover nearly $17 million in legal fees Wednesday following the collapse of her sweeping 2020 election interference case, warning it could consume her office’s fiscal budget.
In a Wednesday filing in Fulton County Superior Court, Willis said her office “has no intention of allowing Fulton County taxpayers” to foot the bill for what she called “an absurd amount for such an absurd reason,” arguing that paying the requested sums could consume a “significant percentage (perhaps all)” of her office’s annual budget.
Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis speaks at Turner Chapel AME church Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Marietta, Georgia. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Trump is seeking more than $6.2 million in attorney fees. Combined with requests from some of the 18 other defendants originally charged in the racketeering case, the total request approaches $17 million, according to Pete Skandalakis, chairman of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia.
The fee demands stem from a Georgia law passed last year that allows criminal defendants to seek reimbursement for legal costs if the prosecuting district attorney is disqualified from the case.
Willis was removed after courts found that her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created an “appearance of impropriety” and exhibited an “odor of mendacity.” The Georgia Supreme Court earlier declined to hear her appeal of that decision.
Skandalakis, whose office assumed control of the case after Willis’s disqualification, later moved to dismiss the charges entirely. On the day before Thanksgiving, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee granted that request, ending the prosecution.
In her latest filing, Willis sharply criticized the reimbursement statute, calling it a “punitive, nonsensical schema” that could force taxpayers to pay millions simply because a successor prosecutor opted to drop charges.
“The defendants are asking that the District Attorney’s budget and the taxpayers’ funds be handed over to the Trump Campaign and the Georgia Republican Party for expenses including luxury hotels and seafood lunches,” the filing reads, characterizing some claimed costs as “truly astonishing,” including high-end travel, meals, media communications, and unexplained research expenses.
Trump’s Georgia attorney Steve Sadow balked at Willis’s assertions in a …
