Judge Allows Trump, Co-Defendants To Pursue Millions In Fani Willis Legal Fees
Fani Willis, the controversial District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, faced a significant setback this week when a judge denied her request to intervene in ongoing litigation regarding the reimbursement of legal fees stemming from her now-dismissed election case against Donald Trump and several co-defendants.
The ruling by Judge Scott McAfee allows efforts to recover nearly $17 million in attorney fees and costs to proceed following the collapse of the high-profile prosecution last year, Zero Hedge reported
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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. However, the case was dismissed in November, prompting Trump and several co-defendants to seek reimbursement for the legal expenses incurred during the prosecution.
Willis’ office attempted to intervene in the fee litigation to block these claims. However, Judge McAfee ruled that the District Attorney’s office had no legal standing to participate, as Willis had already been disqualified from the case. He noted that the state was represented by a temporary District Attorney appointed after Willis’ removal, indicating that the office’s interests were already adequately represented in the proceedings.
Nonetheless, McAfee did grant Fulton County itself permission to intervene in the case, as the county funds most of the District Attorney’s office and could ultimately be responsible for any reimbursement ordered by the court.
The dispute revolves around a 2025 Georgia law that allows defendants 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 these requests are approved.
Trump himself is seeking more than $6.2 million in attorney fees from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office under this statute.
Willis argued that the state law allowing reimbursement of legal fees was unconstitutional and maintained that her disqualification was not the reason the case was ultimately dismissed. However, Judge Scott McAfee declined to pause the reimbursement process at this stage.
Willis was removed from the case in December 2024 after attorneys for Donald Trump and several co-defendants argued that her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade created a conflict of interest. They also cited public statements Willis had made about the prosecution.
In September 2025, the Supreme Court of Georgia declined to review Willis’s removal from the case. Following that decision, the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia was tasked with identifying a replacement prosecutor. The case was later dismissed.
Trump attorney Steve Sadow praised McAfee’s decision in a statement posted on X, saying the judge had “properly denied DA Willis’ motion to intervene” in Trump’s effort to obtain reimbursement of attorney fees.
Trump also criticized Willis after the Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal regarding her removal from the case.
“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,” he said.
The next portion of the litigation will focus on assessing whether the requested reimbursements are reasonable according to the law. A judge will review the fee claims, including Trump’s request for over $6.2 million. That evaluation process may take several weeks or even months and could potentially result in appeals.
In 2023, Willis indicted Trump under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, alleging that he engaged in illegal activity in his efforts to contest the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The case was eventually dismissed, and in December 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals stated that a lower court had erred in allowing Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who was also her romantic partner, to choose to step away from the case.
The court ruled that the “significant appearance of impropriety” meant Willis and her office should be “wholly disqualified.” Willis appealed that decision, but she lost in court.
Obama Accuses JD Vance Of Promoting ‘Blood And Soil’ Politics
Former President Barack Obama rarely mentions Vice President JD Vance by name, but that changed this week with one of his sharpest public attacks since Vance took office.
The comments immediately fueled speculation that Democrats are beginning to focus more attention on the vice president as Republicans look ahead to the post-Trump era.
Speaking Thursday during a conversation with author Malcolm Gladwell, Obama accused Vance of promoting what he described as a “blood and soil” vision of America, despite being married to Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Obama made the remarks while discussing the Reconstruction era and arguing that many of the same debates over citizenship, voting rights and national identity continue today.
“We have a politics now that at least one of our major parties has been captured by politics that is not that subtle about suggesting that ‘We the people’ means a certain kind of people,” Obama said.
“When you have the vice president, current vice president, making a speech that is basically a blood and soil version of ‘We the people,’ that it matters who your parents were and how long they’ve been here despite him being married to a daughter of an immigrant himself.”
The phrase “blood and soil” is historically associated with Nazi Germany and white nationalist ideology.
Obama went on to argue that debates over who belongs in America remain central to the nation’s politics.
“That echoes, then, ideas about who can be a citizen, who belongs, who gets to make decisions,” he said.
Gladwell followed by accusing Vance of hypocrisy, arguing that the vice president was making what he called a nativist argument despite his own family’s immigrant background.
Obama agreed.
“That is progress,” Obama said.
“Listen, hypocrisy is progress. It is, because it means that you feel guilty enough to either lie to yourself or others.”
Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to Vance’s office for comment.
Obama did not identify the specific speech he was criticizing, but Vance’s most recent nationally televised remarks came during Independence Day celebrations marking America’s 250th birthday.
In that speech, Vance encouraged Americans to reject what he called a “two-dimensional view” of the country focused only on its historical failures.
“So what I’d ask you to do, my fellow Americans, on our 250th birthday, is to reject the two-dimensional view of your fellow citizens and reject the two-dimensional view of your country,” Vance said.
“Reject the view of your nation that sees only its sins, but not its grace and its greatness.”
He also emphasized that America’s accomplishments were achieved by “a common people working towards a common future.”
Obama has generally avoided making Vance a regular target since the vice president took office.
One notable exception came during the 2024 presidential campaign when then-Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Without naming Vance directly, Obama contrasted Harris’ choice with the Republican ticket.
“When a presidential candidate chooses a running mate, it says a lot about who they are and what kind of president they’ll be,” Obama said at the time, Fox News reported.
Political observers have increasingly discussed Vance as a potential frontrunner for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, though he has not announced any plans to run.
Against that backdrop, Obama’s unusually direct criticism is likely to fuel speculation that some Democrats are beginning to sharpen their message against a politician they view as a likely future standard-bearer for the Republican Party. While no Democratic leaders have publicly described their strategy in those terms, prominent figures often begin drawing contrasts with potential future rivals well before a presidential campaign officially begins.
Whether that proves to be the case remains to be seen, but Obama’s remarks marked one of his most pointed critiques of Vance to date and ensured the vice president once again found himself at the center of the national political conversation.
