FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Fulton County judge is allowing District Attorney Fani Willis’ office to appeal his order preventing her from taking part in hearings surrounding legal fees.
President Donald Trump and the former defendants in the election interference case are seeking to have nearly $17 million in legal fees returned to them.
Willis told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne that Judge Scott McAfee made the correct legal decision in allowing her appeal.
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McAfee previously ruled that since Willis was disqualified from prosecuting the case, her office was disqualified from all hearings related to it.
She said that her office already had a legal filing prepared in case McAfee ruled against her on the right of appeal.
“I tell my staff, ‘If you stay ready, you ain’t gotta get ready,’” she said.
Over the phone on Monday, she told Winne that recent actions by several judges had eroded her faith in the judiciary, so she is pleasantly surprised at McAfee’s new ruling.
“Who can represent me best is my office, and so I think that we should be allowed to do so,” she said.
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Former DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James says the next step is for the Court of Appeals to decide if it wants to take up Willis’ appeal.
“There’s a new law here that’s been put in place by the state legislature, and there’s no interpretation by the appellate courts on the law,” he explained. “And so I would be surprised if the appealing courts did not take this opportunity to interpret the law and bring some clarity to it.”
Winne also obtained a court document that appears to set two defendants’ motions for attorneys’ fees for a final evidentiary hearing on May 6.
James says he expects McAfee will reschedule those hearings if the Court of Appeals agrees to hear Willis’ office’s appeal.
Eventually, all of the former defendants asking for reimbursement will have hearings.
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