Fulton County DA ordered to turn over election probe records to watchdog group
A judge in Georgia ordered Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to turn over any records from special counsel Jack Smith or the U.S. House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, following a lawsuit from a conservative legal group seeking documents related to the DA's 2020 election interference case.
The order follows a March lawsuit from the conservative nonprofit group Judicial Watch, which sued Willis after Fulton County claimed it did not have any responsive records from either the special counsel's office or House select committee.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney on Monday ordered Willis to produce any records within five business days and determined that she violated the state's open records act by failing to respond to the lawsuit.
Judge McBurney granted judgement by default because Willis failed to make a "meritorious defense" and instead claimed she hadn't been properly served.
"Plaintiff is thus entitled to judgment by default as if every item and paragraph of the complaint were supported by proper and sufficient evidence. Here, this means Plaintiff has established that Defendant violated the ORA by failing to either turn over responsive records or else notify Plaintiff of her decision to withhold some or all such records," said McBurney's decision, which ordered Willis to turn over any records and pay the attorney's fees for Judicial Watch.
Donald Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last year to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Four defendants subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
Smith brought the federal election interference and classified documents cases against Trump before both cases were dismissed due to presidential immunity, following Trump's reelection last month.
Trump's legal team already sought any communications between Willis and the House Select Committee based on a December 2021 letter from Willis to then-committee Chairman Bennie Thompson seeking "access to records that may be relevant to our investigation."
During a January court hearing, attorneys for the Fulton County district attorney's office confirmed that they had produced any relevant records from the committee or the records were already public.
According to former prosecutor Nathan Wade, prosecutors met with the Jan. 6 committee, but that "there was no sharing of tangible documents.'
Trump's criminal case in Georgia is on pause after Trump and his co-defendants launched an effort to have Willis disqualified from the case over her relationship with Wade.
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee declined to disqualify Willis, but the case has been paused as Trump and his co-defendants appeal the decision.
An oral argument for the appeal was initially scheduled for Dec. 5, but was unexpectedly canceled last month without explanation.
