In another legal victory for Judicial Watch, a federal court has ordered the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to furnish all available files they have on any communications between now-former Special Counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pertaining to the prosecution of President Donald Trump.
A federal court ordered the DOJ to provide information on communications between Special Counsel Jack Smith and District Attorney Fani Willis regarding the prosecution of then-former President @realDonaldTrump. READ: https://t.co/IPSO9bMtOo
— Judicial Watch ⚖️ (@JudicialWatch) February 7, 2025
The court order comes after the DOJ still objected to handing over information even after the Trump prosecutions were shut down.
Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ruled on January 28 that because the two federal cases against Trump were closed, the DOJ's non-disclosure arguments are no longer applicable:
Since [the] DOJ filed its motion for summary judgment and supporting Declaration in March 2024, the Special Counsel's criminal enforcement actions have been terminated [...] The cases are 'closed—not pending or contemplated—and therefore are not proceedings with which disclosure may interfere' [...] Thus, the agency’s sole justification for invoking the Glomar doctrine under Exemption 7(A) is no longer applicable.
Accordingly, the Court will deny DOJ’s motion for summary judgment and grant the plaintiff's cross motion. DOJ is directed to process the plaintiff's FOIA request and either 'disclose any [responsive] records or establish both that their contents are exempt from disclosure and that such exemption has not also been waived.'
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Judicial Watch sued in October 2023 after the DOJ failed to comply with an August 2023 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records relating to Willis asking for and/or receiving federal funds or other assistance in any form regarding the investigation of Trump and his allies.
Then that December, the DOJ issued a final response to this request, in which they refused to confirm or deny the existence of relevant records, claiming that releasing these records "could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings," specifically the special counsel's then-ongoing prosecutions. Furthermore, DOJ officials refused to change their position or inform the court in light of the department's decision to toss out the criminal proceedings against Trump.
Now, the DOJ must meet with Judicial Watch on or before February 21, 2025, as well as report the status of their discussion to the court.
"President Trump truly needs to overhaul the Justice Department from top to bottom," Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said in a press release. "It is a scandal that a federal court had to order the Justice Department to admit the truth that their objections to producing records about collusion with Fani Willis had no basis in reality."
Last month, a Fulton County judge ordered Willis to pay Judicial Watch over $21,500 in attorney's fees and litigation expenses for flouting the state's public records law.
In December, the same Superior Court found that Willis violated Georgia's Open Records Act (ORA) in a lawsuit brought by the government watchdog group. Under court order, Willis ultimately admitted to wrongly withholding records that Judicial Watch had repeatedly requested. "Non-compliance has consequences. One of them can be [financial] liability," the judge chastised Willis, like covering costs of litigation.
Judicial Watch launched the open records lawsuit after Willis lied about not possessing any records responsive to a request seeking all communications she may have had with Smith's office and/or the House select January 6 committee.
According to Fitton, Judicial Watch recently received payment from Willis. "We got the Fani Willis check last week," Fitton tweeted. "But we really want the documents!"
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