Embattled Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis must turn over all communications with special counsel Jack Smith and the House Jan. 6 committee to a conservative watchdog group, a judge rules. The verdict was handed down on Tuesday.
Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney of Fulton County, Georgia, ruled that Willis, the last person still prosecuting President-elect Donald Trump, had filed a request filed by Judicial Watch in Fulton County in August 2023. The court ruled that the failure to comply violated open records laws. the group said.
Accountability groups filed suit in March after seeking and being denied communication between the Democratic Attorney General's Office, the special counsel, and the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. was.
A state judge on Tuesday declared Willis in default and ordered the requested records to be searched and turned over to a judicial watchdog within five business days.
“Fani Willis is a different person. We've been doing this work for 30 years, and this is the first time in our experience that a government employee has been found to have failed to appear or respond to an open records lawsuit. ” Judicial Watch Chairman Tom Fitton said in a press release:.
“Judicial Watch looks forward to obtaining any documents from Operation Fani Willis regarding collusion with the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress on the unprecedented and dangerous prosecution of ‘President Trump.’”
The court's decision is the latest scandal surrounding the inflamed district attorney.
Mr. Willis, 53, is prosecuting the only remaining case against Mr. Trump before he took office in January. The case involved President Trump's alleged interference in the 2020 Georgia election.
Two federal lawsuits against the president-elect have already been dropped by Mr. Smith in light of the Republican's re-election bid last month, and Mr. Trump's sentencing in the Manhattan hush money case was postponed indefinitely by a judge.
Willis came under fire last year after admitting to an affair with Nathan Wade, the lawyer she hired to lead the prosecution against Trump.
A court hearing is scheduled for Dec. 20 to determine Judicial Watch's claim for attorney fees in the successful document request case.
