An ‘absurd amount’: Fani Willis squawks about legal fees her office is obligated to pay

By Bob Unruh

Fani Willis (Video screenshot)
Fani Willis

Fani Willis, the local prosecutor in Fulton County, Ga., had no concerns about costs when she hired a paramour for some $700,000 and assembled organized crime claims against President Donald Trump and a long list of codefendants.

The defendants ended up spending some $17 million to protect themselves from her claims.

But suddenly it’s different for Willis, as a state law that provides the prosecuting attorney’s office pay the costs for defendants when the prosecutor in their case is removed for cause, as Willis was.

She is demanding that her office not be required to follow that law.

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In fact, she’s openly defying it, as a document in Fulton County’s court system states her office “has no intention of allowing Fulton County taxpayers” to pay those legal costs, as the state law stipulates.

And, she complains, it’s an “absurd amount.”

She says her justification is that paying what the law requires could use up a “significant percentage (perhaps all)” of her annual budget.

The Washington Examiner explained the president is seeking about $6.2 million in attorney fees, and the other 18 defendants in Willis’ case spent another $11 million.

The publication outlined, “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.”

Willis’ case ended up being dismissed entirely.

Her court submission claims, “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.”

She claims to be astonished at expenses like research, high-end travel, meals and more.

Willis’ original indictment focused on a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Willis claimed Trump asked Reaffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn his narrow loss in the state.

Joe Biden won the race by about 12,000 votes, and evidence obtained since that fight has confirmed that more than 300,000 ballots were counted for which there was no confirmation they were valid. Further, there were some 20,000 more absentee ballots counted than people who cast absentee ballots in the state.

WorldNetDaily had reported when Trump’s lawyers submitted their expenses to the count. The state law allows people whose prosecutors are disqualified to recover “all reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred.”

In fact, Willis had hired her paramour to be a special prosecutor against Trump, paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars and taking exotic trips with him. First, a judge ruled that the special prosecutor had to be removed from the case, then a ruling determined Willis and her entire office had to be removed because of her behavior. And the case was dismissed.

Steve Sadow, Trump’s lawyer in the case, in which Willis wildly claimed there was an organized crime conspiracy going on, said, “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.”

The total requested is $6,261,613,08 and a judge now will have to review that and make a determination.

Previously Willis battled the law, claiming she doesn’t want to follow it.

Another person charged in the case already had submitted a request for reimbursement and she filed a statement claiming the law raises concerns about separation of powers “by purporting to impose financial liability on a constitutional officer, twice elected by the citizens of Fulton County, for the lawful exercise of her core duties under the Georgia Constitution.”

The motion doesn’t explain how her constitutional core duties involve hiring a paramour at taxpayer expense to attack the president.

She’s also been grilled by state officials about her anti-Trump agenda and its results:

The Trump case is finally dead, but Fani Willis left taxpayers on the hook for millions

‘A Big Fat L for Big Fat Fani’: Willis failure complete as new prosecutor drops her RICO claims against Trump

Cough it up: President follows law, asks Fani Willis to reimburse him $6.2 million for legal fees

Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is currently a news editor for the WND News Center, and also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.


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