President Donald Trump has filed a motion seeking $6,261,613.08 in attorney fees and costs from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office after the election-interference case against him and others was dismissed, The Associated Press reported. The filing was made after Willis and her office were removed from the case and a successor dismissed it, following appellate action tied to what the courts described as an “appearance of impropriety.”
The motion relies on a Georgia law passed last year that, under certain conditions, lets defendants ask for fees and costs incurred in their defense. The statute’s language, as described in the AP report, provides that if a prosecutor is disqualified from a case because of their own improper conduct and the case is then dismissed, the affected defendants may request “all reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred.” Under the same framework, the judge overseeing the case reviews the request and awards fees and costs, which are to be paid from the prosecutor’s office budget.
In a statement included in the AP report, Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, said, “In accordance with Georgia law, President Trump has moved the Court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in his defense of the politically motivated, and now rightfully dismissed, case brought by disqualified DA Fani Willis.” A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment on Trump’s filing, according to the report.
Willis’ office has previously challenged the legal basis for the fee request. In a motion filed after another defendant made a similar filing last month, Willis’ motion argued that the fee-shifting statute raises “grave separation-of-powers concerns” by imposing financial liability on an elected constitutional officer for lawful core duties. The motion also asserted that the law violates due process by “retroactively imposing a novel fee-shifting scheme,” creating a substantial burden for county taxpayers without any recourse.
The motion said the prosecution “was neither arbitrary nor political” and described it as based on an “exhaustive investigation spanning years.” It also pointed to the process that led to the indictment, including that a special grand jury reviewed evidence and testimony and that a regular grand jury then issued the charges.
The case began with Willis securing an indictment in August 2023 against Trump and 18 others, using Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. The AP report said prosecutors accused the group of participating in a wide-ranging scheme aimed at illegally overturning Trump’s narrow 2020 presidential election loss in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden. The alleged scheme included a Trump call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger urging him to help find enough votes to beat Biden, the report said, and it noted that four people pleaded guilty in the months after the indictment.
Defense attorneys sought Willis’ removal after they revealed that she had engaged in a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she had selected to lead the case. The defense argued the relationship created a conflict of interest and alleged that Willis personally profited from the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations taken by the pair, the AP report said.
During an extraordinary hearing, Willis and Wade testified, according to the report, that their romance did not begin until after Wade was hired. They also testified that they split the costs for vacations and other outings. The trial judge, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, rebuked Willis in an order in March 2024, saying in part that her actions showed a “tremendous lapse in judgment,” while also stating that he did not find a conflict of interest that would disqualify Willis. McAfee ruled Willis could remain on the case if Wade resigned, and Wade resigned hours later, the AP report said.
Defense attorneys appealed McAfee’s ruling. In December, the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from the case, citing an “appearance of impropriety.” The report said the Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear Willis’ appeal in September.
After Willis was removed, the nonpartisan Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council found a new prosecutor. The report said the council’s executive director, Pete Skandalakis, took on the case himself and dismissed it in November, less than two weeks after he assumed responsibility, bringing the matter to its end in the procedural posture that preceded Trump’s fee request.