Fani Willis, the disgraced Fulton County, Georgia DA who couldn’t keep her clam in her pants while prosecuting Donald Trump, was just dealt a serious blow this week after a judge denied her attempt to intervene in litigation over the reimbursement of legal fees stemming from her now-dismissed Georgia election case against Trump and several co-defendants.
The ruling by Scott McAfee allows efforts to recover nearly $17 million in attorney fees and costs to proceed after the high-profile prosecution collapsed late last year.
In August 2023, Trump and 18 others were indicted in Fulton County for allegedly conspiring to overturn then-President Joe Biden’s narrow election victory in Georgia. The case was dismissed in November, prompting Trump and several co-defendants to seek reimbursement for legal expenses incurred during the prosecution.
Willis’ office attempted to intervene in the fee litigation in an effort to block the claims. But McAfee ruled this week that the district attorney’s office had no legal basis to participate in the case after Willis had already been disqualified from it.
The judge noted that the state was already represented by a temporary district attorney appointed after Willis’ removal, meaning the office’s interests were already represented in the proceedings.
However, McAfee granted Fulton County itself permission to intervene in the case. The county funds most of the district attorney’s office and could ultimately be responsible for paying any reimbursement ordered by the court.
The dispute centers on a 2025 Georgia law that defendants say allows them to recover attorney fees if a prosecutor is disqualified and the case is later dismissed. The decision to allow the reimbursement claims to move forward could have significant financial implications, potentially exposing taxpayers to substantial costs if the requests are approved.
Trump alone is seeking more than $6.2 million in attorney fees from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office under the statute.
Willis had argued that the law permitting the reimbursements was unconstitutional and maintained that her disqualification was not the cause of the case’s dismissal. McAfee declined to halt the reimbursement process at this stage.
Willis was removed from the case in December 2024 after Trump and his co-defendants argued that her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest and that she had made improper public statements about the prosecution.
The Supreme Court of Georgia declined in September 2025 to review her removal, leaving the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to identify a replacement prosecutor. The case was later dropped.
Trump attorney Steve Sadow praised McAfee’s ruling in a statement posted to X, writing that the judge had “properly denied DA Willis’ motion to intervene in POTUS’ action for reimbursement of attorney fees because her disqualification for improper conduct bars Willis and her office from any further participation in this dismissed, lawfare case.”
Trump also criticized Willis following the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision not to hear her appeal, telling reporters last September: “What Fani Willis did to innocent people, patriots that love our country, what she did to them by indicting them and destroying them, she should be put in jail.”
Willis, speaking after she was disqualified from the case, said she hoped whoever took over the prosecution would “have the courage to do what the evidence and the law demand.”
The next phase of the litigation will focus on determining whether the requested reimbursements are reasonable under the statute. A judge will evaluate the fee claims – including Trump’s request exceeding $6.2 million – in a process that could take weeks or months and may lead to appeals.
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