Trump accuser Fani Willis is dealt another major blow
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A Georgia judge has ordered the Fulton County district attorney’s office to turn over documents from his election interference case to a conservative watchdog group. Supreme Court Justice Robert McBurney ordered District Attorney Fani Willis’ office to turn over communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House of Representatives’ January 6 Committee to Judicial Watch, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. .
He gave her office five working days to hand over the documents on Monday. The court granted the default order after finding that Willis had failed to present a “meritorious defense.” In response to the group’s lawsuit earlier this year, the district attorney had instead alleged that she had not been served properly, but the judge ruled that this was not the case.
Judicial Watch first filed the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office of the Office of the Special Counsel and the January 6 Commission on the Election Interference Investigation for all documents and communications in August 2023. A day later, however, it was announced that the office had no ‘responsive records.’ However, the group believed this to be untrue.
In March, the watchdog group filed a lawsuit accusing the Fulton County District Attorney of violating the Open Records Act (ORA).
Ultimately, the judge ruled that Willis had never offered an adequate defense for failing to produce the documents and ordered the communications turned over. “Plaintiff is thus entitled to a default judgment as if each element and paragraph of the complaint were supported by good and sufficient evidence,” the order said.
“Here, this means that Plaintiff has established that Defendant violated the ORA by failing to turn over responsive documents or notify Plaintiff of her decision to withhold some or all of these documents,” it continued. Willis has five days to submit the requested documents. If it does not do so, it must explain why such communications do not exist or are being withheld.
The Open Records Act protects documents from disclosure if they are part of an ongoing investigation. “We’ve been doing this work for 30 years, and this is the first time in our experience that a public official has been found guilty for failing to appear in court to answer an open lawsuit,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch . pictured) in a statement.
“Judicial Watch looks forward to receiving documents from the Fani Willis operation on collusion with the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress over her unprecedented and compromised ‘get-Trump’ prosecution,” he continued. Judge McBurney also set a hearing date for December 20 to determine how much the district attorney’s office would also have to pay in Judicial Watch’s attorney fees.
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