Donald Trump’s Georgia antics are finally starting to bite him
DeKalb and Cobb Counties in Georgia are seeking attorneys’ fees from former President Donald Trump and Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer for filing baseless and frivolous election claims. They presented no credible evidence that election fraud existed.
DeKalb County said its legal costs to fight the “unsubstantiated and harassing claims” against the lawsuit amounted to $6,105. Cobb County wants $10,875 in attorney’s fees, which likely represents “just a fraction” of the amount spent by 15 counties, the state of Georgia and other parties involved in the litigation, according to the county’s motion. Those other counties could join the motion and request the court rule that Trump and the Republican Party pay their legal costs as well.
This action is separate from the other Trump legal headaches about Trump’s actions in changing the results of the election. Trump and Shafer filed the lawsuit in December in Fulton County Superior Court against the Georgia State Election Board, the secretary of state and 15 county election supervisors. Trump and the Republican Party “continued to pursue this litigation after the election contest became moot, all without legal justification,” according to the DeKalb motion, filed by attorneys on behalf of Erica Hamilton, the director of voter registration and elections for the county.
“Petitioners apparently believed that they could file their baseless and legally deficient actions with impunity, with no regard for the costs extracted from the taxpayers’ coffers or the consequences to the democratic foundations of our country,” according to the brief filed by attorney Daniel White on behalf of the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration and Janine Eveler, the director of the Cobb County Elections Department.
