President Donald Trump is gearing up to reclaim millions in legal fees after a high-profile Georgia case tied to the 2020 election finally crashed and burned.
The saga, once a centerpiece of progressive efforts to challenge Trump, ended last Wednesday when Pete Skandalakis, executive director of Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, declared the criminal prosecution dead in the water.
This legal drama began with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis leading the charge, only to be sidelined by a Georgia court ruling that her romantic involvement with a hired prosecutor, Nathan Wade, tainted the case with an appearance of impropriety.
Willis’s disqualification earlier this year left the prosecution in limbo for months, with no clear path forward against Trump and his co-defendants, including Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows.
Enter Skandalakis, who took over the reins but ultimately decided against pressing forward, citing the immense resources needed for what he saw as a years-long battle his council couldn’t sustain.
“Never before, and hopefully never again, will our country face circumstances such as these,” Skandalakis remarked, capturing the unprecedented mess this case became (Pete Skandalakis, Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council).
While the case’s end is a win for Trump, the real sting might hit Fulton County taxpayers if the legal fees he’s after—potentially close to $5 million for himself alone—are awarded from Willis’s budget.
Trump’s lead attorney, Steve Sadow, has already signaled a hefty claim, with Federal Election Commission records showing payments of about $1.52 million to Sadow, $1.46 million to former lawyer Drew Findling, and $2.33 million to attorney Jennifer Little since the case began.
“Taxpayers aren’t paying anything in addition. Unfortunately, her budget will be so affected,” Sadow quipped, not-so-subtly pointing the finger at Willis for launching a case that’s now her fiscal albatross (Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead defense attorney).
Adding fuel to this financial fire is a freshly minted Georgia law, passed this year with bipartisan support, that lets defendants recover reasonable attorney costs if a case is dismissed due to a prosecutor’s improper conduct.
Championed by then-state Sen. Brandon Beach, a Republican later tapped by Trump as U.S. treasurer, the law (GA Code §17-11-6) gives Trump and his team a 45-day window to file for reimbursement after the dismissal.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who oversaw the trial proceedings, will have the final say on how much, if anything, gets awarded from these claims.
Trump isn’t alone in this fight for funds—co-defendants like David Shafer, who raised nearly $45,000 via crowdfunding, and Harrison Floyd, who pulled in over $362,000 online, are also poised to seek their share, potentially pushing total claims to $10 million.
Records show the Georgia Republican Party shelled out more than $1.6 million for legal defense of three co-defendants tied to Electoral College documents, while John Eastman, another figure in the case, has claimed defense costs exceeding $1.6 million across multiple states.
While the left may cry foul over these payouts, the reality is that a law supported by both Republicans and key Democrats now holds the door open for Trump and his allies to recoup their losses—and it’s hard to argue they shouldn’t when the prosecution’s own missteps derailed the case.
