Fani Willis moves to block nearly $17 million in legal fee claims from Trump co-defendants

Fani Willis is asking a Fulton County judge to dismiss nearly $17 million in attorney fee claims filed by defendants in the dismissed 2023 election interference case, arguing that the law they are relying on is unconstitutional, vague, and being misapplied.

In a brief filed Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court, Willis moved to intervene in proceedings tied to a 2025 state law that allows defendants to seek reimbursement of legal fees if a prosecutor is disqualified for "improper conduct" and the case is later dismissed.

DA: Disqualification was based on "appearance," not misconduct

Willis argues the defendants are not eligible for reimbursement because her disqualification stemmed from the "appearance of impropriety," not a finding of actual improper conduct.

Under a strict reading of the statute, she contends, the law applies only when a prosecutor is removed for proven misconduct, not for the mere appearance of it.

Her filing cites years of Georgia appellate precedent that distinguishes between "actual impropriety" and the "appearance of impropriety," arguing that the legislature was aware of this distinction when it passed the law in May 2025.

No link between disqualification and dismissal, filing says

The brief also argues there was no causal connection between her disqualification and the later dismissal of the indictment.

According to the filing, the successor prosecutor's decision to seek a nolle prosequi - a prosecutor or plaintiff's official notice voluntarily withdrawing a pending criminal charge or civil lawsuit - did not rely on the issues that led to her removal. Willis contends the statute requires a nexus between the disqualification and the dismissal - not merely that one event happened after the other.

Claims include luxury hotels, PAC payments, seafood lunches

In one of the more pointed sections of the brief, the DA's office challenges the reasonableness of the fee requests themselves.

The filing describes the nearly $17 million total as "a suitably preposterous sum," alleging some invoices include:

• Hotel stays exceeding $1,000 per night
• Seafood lunches costing hundreds of dollars
• Private security and aviation fuel
• Work unrelated to the Fulton County prosecution
  

The brief also claims that several legal bills were paid by political entities — including Trump-affiliated PACs and the Georgia Republican Party — and therefore were not "incurred by the defendants" personally, as the statute requires.

Constitutional challenges raised

Willis' filing mounts broader constitutional attacks on the statute, arguing it:

• Violates Georgia's constitutional requirement that general laws operate uniformly statewide
• Is unconstitutionally vague due to undefined terms like "prosecuting attorney" and "criminal case"
• Would amount to an unlawful retroactive penalty if applied to conduct that occurred before the law's enactment
  

The DA's office argues the statute cannot be applied retroactively to conduct that predated its May 14, 2025 effective date.

"No intention" of paying claims

In a separate filing, Willis stated her office "has no intention of allowing Fulton County taxpayers to pay such an absurd amount for such an absurd reason."

She argues that, under a strict construction of the statute, "none of the defendants' claims can proceed" and that the requests represent an "enormous windfall."