According to court filings, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been forced to pay more than $54,000 in legal expenses for breaking Georgia’s Open Records Act.

The conflict started when defense lawyer Ashleigh Merchant, who works for Michael Roman, a former campaign and White House advisor to President Donald Trump, asked Willis’ office to produce certain documents. According to Newsweek, Roman and Trump were charged in the Georgia election tampering case, which Willis filed in 2023 and is still pending.

The site added that Friday’s decision is just another blow to Fani Willis’s lawsuit against Trump and the other defendants.

The case against Trump and 18 other co-defendants, who are charged with plotting to thwart Joe Biden’s 2020 Georgia victory, was dismissed from Willis’ prosecution in December. Trump has refuted the allegations and charged Willis with carrying out an attack with political motivations.

Due to the “appearance of impropriety” resulting from Willis’ prior contact with Nathan Wade, a former special prosecutor on the case, the Georgia Court of Appeals determined that disqualification was required. In October, Wade was compelled to step down.

The court disqualified her “based solely upon an appearance of impropriety and absent a finding of an actual conflict of interest or forensic misconduct,” according to Willis’ January appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.