Oversight Project’s Statement on GA’s Attempt to Deprive Victims of Fani Willis’ Kangaroo Court of Reimbursement for Legal Defense Costs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2026
Washington, D.C. – Fulton County DA Fani Willis’ prosecution of President Trump and other American patriots for challenging the 2020 Election epitomizes government weaponization. Since this charade was finally dismissed late last year, The Oversight Project has made clear: these exonerated weaponization victims must be made whole for costs incurred from the weaponization. The State of Georgia apparently sees it differently, as it is now obstructing reimbursement of their attorney’s fees and expenses.
In November 2025, special prosecutor Peter Skandalakis took over Willis’ prosecution of Trump and his pardoned co-defendants following her disqualification. After Skandalakis rightly moved for an entry of nolle prosequi, the Superior Court dismissed Willis’ phony criminal case in its entirety later that month. Skandalakis should no doubt be applauded for putting an end to Willis’ kangaroo court of a state RICO prosecution. Yet despite his willingness to render justice in dropping her frivolous persecution scheme, Skandalakis unfortunately now appears to be playing politics and recoiling the fiscal implications of Willis’ misadventures for Fulton County. He is trying to find some way, any way, to obstruct the straightforward application of a Georgia statute which guarantees that the former defendants of Willis’ kangaroo court may recover the millions of dollars in legal expenses she inflicted upon them through government lawfare.
Enacted into state law last year on the heels of Willis’ disqualification, OCGA § 17-11-6 entitles Trump and his former co-defendants to these reimbursements since Willis was “disqualified due to improper conduct” and her sham prosecution was then “dismissed.” Nevertheless, on January 14, Skandalakis filed a brief for Georgia opposing the exonerated defendants’ recovery of any attorney’s fees or costs on dubious grounds that: (1) Willis was not disqualified for improper conduct; and (2) section 17-11-6 is “unconstitutional because it leaves county governments . . . responsible for paying costs that do not involve them,” and “therefore denies county governments due process.”
These positions evidence a brazen attempt by Georgia to subvert restitutionary justice owed to its wounded victims. First, the Georgia Appeals Court disqualifying Willis clarified that its remedy was based on “a significant appearance of impropriety caused by the conduct of a public prosecutor.” Roman v. State, 373 Ga. App. 863, 872–73 & n. 4 (2024) (emphasis added). Second, it has been the settled law of Georgia for over a century that the “constitutional guaranty that no person shall be deprived of his property without due process of law does not apply to the revenues of a county, since a county is a public corporation existing only for public purposes, and its revenues . . . are subject to legislative control.” Bibb Cnty. v. Hancock, 211 Ga. 429, 440–41 (1955) (holding that counties “do not own the taxes collected by them and public property held by them as if it were private property,” and hence, “they are not persons . . . within the meaning of the constitutional provision guaranteeing due process to all persons” (citing Hammond v. Clark, 136 Ga. 313 (1911))) (cleaned up).
Oversight Project President Mike Howell released the following statement:
“Those who pushed the egregious weaponized lawfare need to be punished. Those who were harmed by it need to be made whole. It’s really that simple. We are always going to stand up for patriots like Jeff Clark, and we won’t stop until this is made right.”