After discovering that her office had violated Georgia’s Open Records Act,

a judge ordered Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to turn

over documents and pay more than $54,000 in attorneys’ fees.

Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign staffer, is one of the 18 individuals

indicted in August 2023 alongside President Donald Trump on charges

that they unlawfully attempted to overturn Trump’s 2020 election

defeat in Georgia. Attorney Ashleigh Merchant is representing Roman.

In January 2024, Merchant filed a lawsuit, claiming that the district

attorney’s office had not provided the public records she had asked for.

The violations of the records law “were intentional, not done in good faith,

and were substantially groundless and vexatious,” according to Fulton

County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause. Krause determined that Merchant

is entitled to attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses totaling slightly

more than $54,000 because Willis and her office “lacked substantial

justification” for noncompliance. Willis was instructed by Krause to

locate and provide all records that were responsive to Merchant’s requests.

After Friday’s order, the paperwork and money must be delivered within 30 days.

On Monday, a representative for Willis’ office stated that they intend to challenge the ruling.

After Willis’ office repeatedly failed to produce documents, Merchant said she finally filed the lawsuit.

“We had no intention of bringing a lawsuit,” she stated. “We truly had

no choice because they were ignoring it, denying the existence of

documents we knew existed, and opposing us at every turn.”