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.
A judge on Monday ordered Fulton County District Attorney Fanni Willis to turn over communications in her election interference case to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.
Judicial Watch first submitted the request for all documents and communications to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office in August 2023 at the Office of the Special Counsel and the Commission for the Jan. 6 Election Interference Investigation.
However, a day later the agency was informed that the office did not have “responsive data.” 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.
Judicial Watch led by Tom Fitton (pictured) first filed a lawsuit in March accusing Willis of violating the Open Records Act
Judicial Watch was seeking all communications between the Fulton County district attorney and Special Prosecutor Jack Smith (pictured), who led the federal Trump investigation into election interference, and with the Jan. 6 House Committee.
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 . 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.