Overview
- Trump filed a Jan. 7 motion asking Judge Scott McAfee to order the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office to pay $6,261,613.08 for his defense in the dismissed election case.
- The request cites a 2025 law that mandates awards of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs when a prosecutor is disqualified for improper conduct and the case is later dropped, with payments coming from the prosecutor’s budget.
- Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was removed from the prosecution in 2024 for creating an appearance of impropriety due to a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
- After Willis’ disqualification, Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council director Pete Skandalakis assumed the case and dismissed it in November 2025, triggering a 45-day window for defendants to file fee claims.
- Willis’ office has moved to intervene and is challenging the statute’s constitutionality on separation-of-powers and due-process grounds, and McAfee will decide the statute’s application and the reasonableness of any fees, with further appeals possible.