Fani Willis ordered to pay $54K for violating open records laws in Trump case
The county's Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause formalized her ruling Friday and ordered Willis to pay $54,264 in attorneys' fees and litigation costs after "intentionally" failing to provide records requested by Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney who filed the motion to disqualify Willis from prosecuting Trump on charges of allegedly interfering with the 2020 presidential election.
Krause stated that Willis' office failed to provide documents related to the employment of Nathan Wade, the former special assistant district attorney forced to resign from the Trump case due to his romantic relationship with Willis.
Merchant believed that Willis and Wade may have financially benefited from Wade's appointment as the special prosecutor in the case.
"Defendants — through the Open Records custodian, Dexter Bond — were openly hostile to counsel for Plaintiff, Ms. Merchant, and testified that Ms. Merchant's requests were handled differently than other requests," the court order said.
Bond, who testified that his usual practice was to call a requestor to receive additional information to fulfill requests, indicated that he refused to communicate with Merchant by telephone, the court order stated.
"While there is no requirement under the ORA for Mr. Bond to call any requestor about a particular request, Mr. Bond's handling of Ms. Merchant's requests in this manner indicates a lack of good faith," the order said. "Defendants' failures were intentional, not done in good faith, and were substantially groundless and vexatious."
Merchant, who reacted to the ruling in a post on X Friday, said she was "proud that we have judges willing to hold people in power accountable when they ignore the law!!!!"
Fox News Digital reached out to Merchant and Willis' office for additional statements but did not immediately receive a response.
The DA's office has 30 days from the court's order to pay the penalty. The plaintiff also received injunctive relief directing Willis to finally provide the requested documents.
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