Georgia Election‑Interference Prosecution

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled Monday that District Attorney Fani Willis, already "wholly disqualified" from prosecuting the Georgia election‑interference RICO case, cannot intervene in Donald Trump’s and his co‑defendants’ bid to recoup roughly $16.8 million in legal fees. Trump is seeking more than $6.2 million under a 2025 Georgia law that lets defendants recover costs when a prosecutor is disqualified, and other former defendants are pursuing additional millions. Willis had argued she needed to be heard because any award would come out of her office’s budget, but McAfee held that her prior disqualification bars her or her office from any further role, though Fulton County itself may participate because county funds are at stake. The underlying criminal case, filed in 2023 and once touted as a sweeping RICO prosecution over alleged efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results, effectively collapsed after the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis in 2024 for an undisclosed romantic relationship with her lead prosecutor, and state prosecutors later moved to dismiss it. Trump’s lawyers are framing the fee fight as pushback against what they call "lawfare," while critics warn that aggressive fee‑shifting could chill future high‑profile public‑corruption prosecutions and saddle taxpayers with massive defense bills when prosecutors are found to have crossed ethical lines.