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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is hiding records of communications with the January 6 Committee after a court found her in default.
The Fulton County Superior Court on Tuesday found Fani Willis in default for refusing to hand over documents in an open records lawsuit.
Fani Willis refused to answer a public records lawsuit seeking records of her communications with Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Earlier this year, conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch asked the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia to declare a default judgment against Fani Willis after she refused to respond to its lawsuit related to communications she had with Jack Smith and the sham January 6 Committee.
Last year, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan launched an investigation into whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis coordinated with federal officials during her years-long probe into Trump and his associates.
Chairman Jordan in his letter to Fani Willis requested all documents and communications between or among the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and DOJ and its components, including but not limited to the Office of Special Counsel Jack Smith, referring or relating to your office’s investigation of President Donald Trump or any of the other eighteen individuals against whom charges were brought in the indictment.
In referring to Jim Jordan’s letter to Fani Willis, Judicial Watch filed a Georgia Open Records Act request seeking records of her communications with Jack Smith.
According to Judicial Watch: The court ordered Willis “to conduct a diligent search of her records for responsive materials within five business days of the entry of this Order. Within that same five day period, Defendant is ORDERED to provide Plaintiff with copies of all responsive records that are not legally exempted or excepted from disclosure.” [Emphasis in original] Willis’ office responded with zero non-public documents:
Members of the District Attorney’s staff having conducted a search as directed by the Court, the Office provides the following response to Plaintiffs requests:
Regarding “[a]ll documents and communication sent to, received from, or relating to Special Counsel Jack Smith or any employees in his office,” a diligent search indicates that no such documents or communications exist.
Regarding “[a]ll documents and communication sent to or received from the United States House January 6th Committee or any of its employees,” a diligent search indicates that any such documents and communications are “legally exempted or excepted from disclosure” under O.C.G.A. §§ 50-18-72(a)(4), 50-18-72(a)(41) and 50-18-72(a)(42). Per the direction of the Superior Court’s Order, the Office informs the Plaintiff that the records are exempted/excepted from disclosure because they arose from the investigation, subsequent indictment, and prosecution in case number 23SC188947; are subject to attorney-client privilege; and are confidential work product. As a result, they are records in a pending, ongoing criminal investigation and prosecution.
Judicial Watch reported:
Judicial Watch announced today that District Attorney Fani Willis refused to release any non-public documents in response to a court order finding her in default for failing to respond to a Judicial Watch lawsuit seeking records of communications Willis had with Special Counsel Jack Smith and the House January 6 Committee. Late yesterday evening, Willis’ Open Records Department denied any records about Jack Smith existed and cited a series of legal exemptions to justify the withholding of communications with January 6 Committee. The Willis office did release one, already public, letter to January 6 Committee Chairman Benny Thompson.
The March 2024 lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County, GA, after Willis and the county denied having any records responsive to an August 2023 Georgia Open Records Act request for communications with the Special Counsel’s office and/or the January 6 Committee (Judicial Watch Inc. v. Fani Willis et al. (No. 24-CV-002805)).
In its lawsuit Judicial Watch stated that Willis’ “representation about not having records responsive to the request is likely false.” Judicial Watch referred to a December 5, 2023, letter from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan to Willis that cites a December 2021 letter from Willis to then-House January 6 Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS). In that letter Willis requested assistance from the committee and offered to travel to DC.
“Judicial Watch and a state court forced Fani Willis to confirm additional documents exist about her collusion with the partisan Pelosi January 6 Committee to ‘get Trump,’” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “But Willis, citing legal exemptions for a prosecution that’s essentially dead in the water, now wants to hide these records from the America public. Judicial Watch plans to push back in court against this disingenuous secrecy.”