Fani Willis found in default in fight over Jack Smith contacts and Trump prosecution

Fani Willis, a local prosecutor in Atlanta, Georgia, who assembled her claims of an organized crime scheme against now President-elect Donald Trump and other defendants with the help of a paramour she put on a taxpayer-funded salary, now is in more trouble.

Her case, hanging on by a threat at an appeals court, is essentially the only case remaining against Trump after he was elected last month and multiple other lawfare cases were dismissed.

But now, Judicial Watch confirms that she’s been found by a court in default after refusing to comply with the Georgia Open Records Act.

Judicial Watch had sought, through the state’s legal process regarding records, to obtain information about Willis’ coordination with “special counsel” Jack Smith, appointed by the Department of Justice to carry that part of the Democrat Party’s lawfare against Trump, cases that now have been dismissed.

Also, records were sought about Willis’ coordination with ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s partisan January 6 investigating committee, which concealed exculpatory information about President Trump’s involvement that day, and tried to portray the events as an actual insurrection against the U.S., when in fact it was a protest that turned into a minor riot with most of the aftermath involve repairs of vandalism.

Judge Robert C.K. McBurney in Fulton County Superior Court said Willis had a number of options in responding to the records case, but did “none of that.”

“Plaintiff is thus entitled to judgment by default as if every item and paragraph of the complaint were supported by proper and sufficient evidence. O.C.G.A. § 9-11-55(a). 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. In its complaint, Plaintiff sought the following relief: 1) a declaration that Defendant has violated the ORA; 2) an order for Defendant to search for all records responsive to Plaintiff’s request without further delay; 3) an injunction ordering Defendant to cease withholding non-exempt public records responsive to the request; 4) an award of attorney’s fees and costs pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 50-18-73(b); 5) a writ of mandamus, ordering Defendant to provide the requested records; and 6) any other relief the Court deems proper.”

The judge wrote, “By finding Defendant in default, the Court has in effect declared that she has violated the ORA. The Court also hereby ORDERS Defendant to conduct a diligent search of her records for responsive materials within five business days of the entry of this Order. Within that same five day period, Defendant is ORDERED to provide Plaintiff with copies of all responsive records that are not legally exempted or excepted from disclosure. If Defendant is required or decides to withhold all or part of a requested record, she should follow the procedures set forth in the ORA (see O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71(d)). If the records are stored electronically, they may be produced electronically in a commonly used format such as PDF. The Court expects that such production will include the correspondence identified by Plaintiff in its complaint. If it does not, Defendant is further ORDERED to provide an explanation why such correspondence does not exist in Defendant’s records (or why it is being withheld).”

Judicial Watch’s request for fees and costs will be addressed during a Dec. 20 hearing.

Judicial Watch said its lawsuit, dating back to last March, came after Willis denied having any records responsive to the request for communications with Jack Smith and more.

The New York Post reported only days ago Willis’ case against Trump isn’t likely to survive much longer.

It noted her claims against Trump, accusing him alleged election interference in Georgia, likely will vanish soon.

The report said Willis “has remained defiant and ignored a subpoena in September from a special senate committee looking into the case, refusing to show up for a hearing when was supposed to testify. Last week, a Georgia appeals court abruptly canceled oral arguments scheduled for next month in the case and Trump’s lawyers are likely cite the federal end to the election interference charges against him to get the Georgia case thrown out.”

One Post source said, ‘I would be shocked if it wasn’t (dismissed) but Fani has an ego bigger than the entire state so who knows.”

Willis appointed her then-paramour Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor in her case against Trump – and paid him hundreds of thousands of tax dollars.

He was ordered to leave the case earlier when a judge cited the appearance of impropriety in Willis’ workings.

“Fani Willis is something else. We’ve been doing this work for 30 years, and this is the first time in our experience a government official has been found in default for not showing up in court to answer an open records lawsuit.,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.

“Judicial Watch looks forward to getting any documents from the Fani Willis operation about collusion with the Biden administration and Nancy Pelosi’s Congress on her unprecedented and compromised ‘get-Trump’ prosecution.”