Judicial Watch: Fani Willis Hides Records of Communications with January 6 Committee, Denies Existence of Any Jack Smith Records

Willis’ ‘Open Records Department’ Cites Exemptions to Hide Records

(Washington, DC) – 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.

In May 2024, Judicial Watch asked the court to declare a default judgment, noting that Willis was served with the lawsuit in March 2024 and had “not filed an answer,” which “was due 30 days after service.”

The court’s default judgment states: “The Court finds Defendant [Willis, in her official capacity] is in default and has been since 11 April 2024.” Further, Willis “never moved to open default on any basis (not even during the period when she could have opened default as a matter of right), she never paid costs, and she never offered up a meritorious defense.”

 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 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 hide these records from the America public. Judicial Watch plans to push back in court against this disingenuous secrecy.”

Judicial Watch is assisted in the case by John Monroe of John Monroe Law in Georgia.

Judicial Watch has several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits related to the prosecutorial abuse targeting Trump:

In February 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal court to allow the agency to keep secret the names of top staffers working in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office that is targeting former President Donald Trump and other Americans.

(Before his appointment to investigate and prosecute Trump, Special Counsel Jack Smith previously was at the center of several controversial issues, the IRS scandal among them. In 2014, a Judicial Watch investigation revealed that top IRS officials had been in communication with Jack Smith’s then-Public Integrity Section about a plan to launch criminal investigations into conservative tax-exempt groups. Read more here.)

In January 2024, Judicial Watch filed lawsuit against Fulton County, Georgia, for records regarding the hiring of Nathan Wade as a special prosecutor by District Attorney Fani Willis. Wade was hired to pursue unprecedented criminal investigations and prosecutions against former President Trump and others over the 2020 election disputes.

In October 2023, Judicial Watch sued the DOJ for records and communications between the Office of U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney’s office regarding requests/receipt of federal funding/assistance in the investigation of former President Trump and his 18 codefendants in the Fulton County indictment of August 14, 2023. To date, the DOJ is refusing to confirm or deny the existence of records, claiming that to do so would interfere with enforcement proceedings. Judicial Watch’s litigation challenging this is continuing.

Through the New York Freedom of Information Law, in July 2023, Judicial Watch received the engagement letter showing New York County District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg paid $900 per hour for partners and $500 per hour for associates to the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher law firm for the purpose of suing Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) in an effort to shut down the House Judiciary Committee’s oversight investigation into Bragg’s unprecedented indictment of former President Donald Trump. 

###

The post Judicial Watch: Fani Willis Hides Records of Communications with January 6 Committee, Denies Existence of Any Jack Smith Records appeared first on Judicial Watch.

Source: https://www.judicialwatch.org/fani-hides-records-jan-6/