Fani Willis watched her witch hunt against Trump go off the rails.
The bill is coming due for weaponizing the government.
And Fani Willis got a punch in the gut that left her in ruins.
Willis Tries Every Legal Trick To Dodge $17 Million Bill
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is throwing everything at the wall to avoid paying Donald Trump and his co-defendants nearly $17 million in legal fees after her lawfare collapsed.
She's trotting out every legal technicality and constitutional argument her lawyers can dream up, hoping some judge will let her off the hook.
The law that's got her panicking – Senate Bill 244 – was passed specifically because of what she did to Trump.
Governor Brian Kemp signed it last May: if a prosecutor gets booted for misconduct and the case gets dismissed, defendants get their legal fees back.
Trump and 14 co-defendants were indicted in August 2023 on bogus charges of attempting to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results.
The whole thing fell apart after it came out that Willis hired her boyfriend Nathan Wade as special prosecutor, paid him massive fees with taxpayer money, and then went on luxury vacations funded by that taxpayer money.
Wade billed 24 hours of work on November 5, 2021 – a physical impossibility.
This was a straight-up scam to funnel public money to her lover.
The Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified her in December 2024.
And the Georgia Supreme Court upheld that decision in September 2025, and the new prosecutor dropped all charges in November.
Trump and the others want their money back, and Willis is squirming.
The Gall Of Complaining About Trump's Legal Bills
Willis has the audacity to complain that Trump's legal team is asking for reimbursement of hotel stays and lunches.
This woman used taxpayer dollars to fund romantic getaways with Wade to Napa Valley and the Caribbean.
Her office calls the $17 million total "a suitably preposterous sum" and claims the invoices are padded with private security and aviation fuel.
Willis dragged Trump and 18 others through a years-long political persecution, forced them to hire top attorneys to defend against felony charges, and now she's complaining they want their money back.
These people did nothing wrong except support Trump and challenge an election.
Trump's lead attorneys were paid about $2.7 million, and the Georgia Republican Party covered at least $2 million for other defendants.
Every penny was necessary because Willis threw the book at them with RICO charges that could have resulted in decades in prison.
Willis is also claiming that because political groups like Trump-affiliated PACs helped pay some legal bills, those defendants didn't "personally incur" the costs.
Lawyer word games trying to weasel out of accountability.
Her Legal Arguments Are Desperate Excuse-Making
Willis is hiding behind technicalities, arguing she was only removed for the "appearance of impropriety" rather than actual misconduct.
According to her twisted logic, the law only applies when there's proven misconduct – not when a prosecutor puts her boyfriend on the payroll and takes vacations funded by taxpayers.
She's claiming there's no connection between her getting kicked off and the charges being dropped.
The new prosecutor immediately dismissed everything because the whole prosecution was garbage from the start.
Willis is also throwing up constitutional challenges, arguing the law is vague and violates uniformity requirements.
Desperate moves from someone who knows what's coming.
In a separate filing, Willis stated her office "has no intention of allowing Fulton County taxpayers to pay such an absurd amount."
Too late – she already burned through millions on her political vendetta.
Wade Dodges Testimony While Willis' World Crumbles
Nathan Wade – the boyfriend she put on the taxpayer gravy train – was supposed to testify before a Georgia Senate committee investigating the scandal.
He didn't show up to the scheduled February 13 hearing.
Wade's attorney offered March 13 as a possible date, but Senator Greg Dolezal, who chairs the committee, said that's "not acceptable."
They want him answering questions about how he billed taxpayers for more than 24 hours in a day and where all that money went.
The Republican-led Senate Special Committee on Investigations is examining what Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones calls Willis' "misuse of taxpayer dollars."
Willis already testified in December after fighting the subpoena for over a year, delivering a combative and evasive performance.
The committee says her testimony "left them with more questions than answers," especially compared to what Wade and others said under oath.
Willis spent years destroying lives with a prosecution that never should have been brought.
She funneled taxpayer money to her boyfriend through fraudulent billing and took luxury vacations on the public dime.
Now she's complaining about paying back the people she wrongly persecuted.
The chickens are coming home to roost, and Fani Willis is running out of places to hide.
Sources:
- Zachary Bynum, "Fani Willis moves to block nearly $17 million in legal fee claims from Trump co-defendants," CBS Atlanta, February 12, 2026.
- "Senate Committee Struggles with Delays as Key Figures in Fulton County DA Probe Seek Legal Counsel," Hoodline, February 15, 2026.
- "Nathan Wade's testimony to Georgia Senate subcommittee investigating Fani Willis delayed," CBS Atlanta, February 13, 2026.
- "Senate committee pushing for testimony from Nathan Wade after no show," FOX 5 Atlanta, February 13, 2026.
