District Attorney Fani Willis is not permitted to get involved in the effort to recover nearly $17 million in legal expenses that President Donald Trump and his supporters from the 2020 election are pursuing following her unsuccessful election fraud case.
This decision was made by Judge Scott McAfee of Georgia’s Fulton County Superior Court this week.
In 2023, Trump, along with 13 others, faced indictments for allegedly interfering with Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
However, the case was dropped after a state appeals court disbarred Willis due to a conflict of interest related to a relationship between the Fulton County Attorney’s Office and special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Subsequently, Special Counsel Peter Skandalakis opted not to pursue charges after Trump assumed the presidency for a second time.
As reported by local news, Georgia law permits former defendants to claim legal fees after a prosecutor is disqualified. Trump and his former co-defendants are currently seeking around $16.8 million in legal fees from Fulton County based on this law.
Willis sought to intervene in the case to contest the compensation claim and provide her legal perspective.
Judge McAfee denied her request, stating that she was “totally disqualified” and couldn’t defend her previous decisions. He added that the current special prosecutor already sufficiently represents the interests of the agency.
The judge did allow Fulton County to participate in the reparations case as a corporation, since it would need to fund the compensation if Trump and the 14 other defendants succeed with their claim.
In Willis’ request, it was claimed that “without the district attorney’s intervention, any award could violate fundamental due process principles by not allowing her the chance to be heard and to challenge the reasonableness of the requested attorney’s fees before affecting her budget.”
Willis, who previously worked as a racketeering prosecutor, alleged that Trump and others conspired to overturn the election results. Meanwhile, after numerous disqualifications and shifts in jurisdiction following Trump’s re-election, the case collapsed on November 26, 2025, as noted by local reports.
Some critics have suggested that her case was driven by political motivations. Reports from Breitbart News indicate that months prior to the charges against Trump, Willis had a lengthy meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House.
Trump has consistently asserted that he did no wrong, and many conservatives view this prosecution as part of a series of politically motivated charges aimed at undermining his chances for a second term.
