Fani Willis thought prosecuting Donald Trump would make her a star.
Instead, she became the poster child for prosecutorial misconduct.
And Fani Willis got some bad news that was the final nail in her career.
Willis had it all planned out. She'd use the Trump prosecution to become a hero to Democrats nationwide, stop Trump from winning the 2024 election, and ride the media attention into the Georgia Governor's mansion in 2026.
Now her dreams are in ruins and she's sticking Fulton County taxpayers with the bill.
A judge dismissed Willis's witch-hunt prosecution against Trump and the remaining defendants after the Georgia Court of Appeals and state Supreme Court disqualified her over her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
The "significant appearance of impropriety" destroyed what should never have been a case in the first place.
Here's what should make residents furious. Willis opened the door for up to 15 defendants to send their multimillion-dollar legal bills straight to the taxpayers.
Georgia law puts taxpayers on the hook for Willis's misconduct
Georgia Code § 17-11-6 gives every defendant whose charges were dismissed the right to recover "all reasonable attorney's fees and costs" from the DA's office budget.
Willis brought charges against Trump and 18 co-defendants in August 2023, accusing them of a criminal "enterprise" to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results.
She dragged 19 people into court for exercising their constitutional rights to question election outcomes and lobby state legislators.
Willis's personal scandal destroyed the case.
Defense attorneys revealed Willis appointed her boyfriend Nathan Wade as special prosecutor and paid him hundreds of thousands in public funds. Bank records showed Wade paying for luxury trips to Napa Valley and the Caribbean with Willis while he was billing Fulton County.
Judge Scott McAfee found the relationship created an "appearance of impropriety" and a "financial cloud of impropriety and potential untruthfulness."
Wade resigned, but the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Willis entirely for creating a "significant appearance of impropriety."
Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, took over after Willis got kicked off. He reviewed the evidence and moved to dismiss all remaining charges.
"It is not illegal to question or challenge election results," Skandalakis wrote.¹ He noted the alternate electors "lacked criminal intent" and believed their actions were legally required.¹
For the lawyers who were prosecuted, Skandalakis said he was "extremely reluctant to criminalize the act of attorneys providing flawed legal advice."¹
The lawyers were doing their jobs representing their clients vigorously, even if courts ultimately rejected their arguments.
McAfee then dismissed the case "in its entirety."¹
Taxpayers face tens of millions in legal bills
Those three words should terrify Fulton County's finance office.
Nineteen defendants were indicted. Four took plea deals. That leaves up to 15 individuals whose charges have been dismissed and who can now invoke § 17-11-6 to recover their legal fees.
The numbers are staggering. The Georgia Republican Party spent roughly $2.3 million defending three of its leaders who served as alternate electors.¹
Other defendants poured hundreds of thousands into legal teams. Trump's nationally known lawyers don't work cheap.
Local media report Fulton County taxpayers could be "on the hook" for "tens of millions" of dollars if defendants file motions seeking reimbursement and judges approve their bills.¹
Those payments must come directly from the DA's office budget.
Fulton County is already facing a property tax increase of roughly $32 million just to fix "abhorrent, unconstitutional" jail conditions under a federal mandate.¹
Now taxpayers will have to cover Willis's prosecutorial misconduct on top of that.
Willis may never personally write a reimbursement check. But her conduct put every homeowner and small business in Fulton County on the hook for underwriting the legal defense of innocent people she indicted to further her political ambitions.
Her gubernatorial dreams? Dead. Her reputation? In tatters. Her office? A national laughingstock that drained millions from taxpayers for a political vendetta.
Georgia legislators made counties liable for costs of prosecutorial misconduct. But they should go further and make district attorneys face real personal consequences for this kind of behavior.
Tighter rules, mandatory disclosure of personal and financial ties with outside counsel, and meaningful disciplinary action when a DA's "lapse in judgment" collapses into a sham show trial.
When prosecutors treat their office as a vehicle for political ambitions and personal relationships, it's not just defendants who suffer.
It's every citizen who pays taxes and discovers they're footing the bill for someone else's lawfare.
Willis wanted to be a star. Instead, she became the cautionary tale about what happens when prosecutors weaponize their power for political gain.
¹ Hans von Spakovsky and Nathan Desautels, "The Trump Case Is Finally Dead, but Fani Willis Left Fulton County Taxpayers on the Hook for Millions of Dollars," The Daily Signal, December 4, 2025.
