A Georgia judge has ripped Trump critic and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for falsely denying having records of conversations with one-time federal Trump prosecutor Jack Smith and demanded that she turn them over.
In a strongly worded order shared with Secrets, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C.I. McBurney gave Washington-based Judicial Watch its latest victory in its bid to dig deep into the effort by Smith and Willis to take down President Donald Trump before the 2024 election.
“Defendant claimed to have no responsive records,” McBurney wrote of the first claim by Willis when Judicial Watch asked for records.
Doubting her, Judicial Watch sued and hit pay dirt, said McBurney in the order.
“Plaintiff sued and has since secured a default judgment against defendant, who, it turns out, does have responsive records. After several non-searches, one court order, and at least one actual search of unknown thoroughness, defendant revised her answer to, in essence, ‘I do have records, but you can’t have them,” wrote the judge.
Now, he has ordered Willis to turn over some 212 pages of related documents.
He also ordered Willis to detail how the records were found, apparently during a fifth search, and the reason for withholding them.
After a review, the judge said he would determine what to hand over to Judicial Watch, whose president expressed exasperation with the legal games played by Willis.
Judge orders Trump prosecutors to dish in collusion case @TomFitton @JudicialWatch ‘Trump truly needs to overhaul the Justice Department from top to bottom.’https://t.co/T6vFGkPAzL via @dcexaminer pic.twitter.com/aTKbpkSrE5
— Paul Bedard (@SecretsBedard) February 4, 2025
In an earlier ruling, the judge ordered Willis to pay the legal fees of Judicial Watch after she claimed that the few records she knew about were exempt from disclosure. She had previously denied the existence of those records, too.
“Fani Willis can’t be trusted. Every time we go back to court there are new excuses and new documents that she said never existed,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
The new order follows a related Judicial Watch victory when a federal judge ordered the release of Smith’s communications with Willis in their cases related to the 2020 election.
Judicial Watch had been seeking communications between Smith’s office and the Fulton County district attorney “requesting or receiving federal funds or other federal assistance in any form relating to the investigation” of Trump and others in the 2020 election case. The group also sought any other communications between the two.
