Two metro Atlanta counties are seeking attorneys fees from former President Donald Trump and Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer in a lawsuit that sought to overturn the presidential election in Georgia.
Trump and Shafer filed the lawsuit in December in Fulton County Superior Court. It was part of a wave of election litigation that has continued long after Joe Biden was sworn in as president.
Among other things, the lawsuit said tens of thousands of illegal voters cast ballots in the November election — claims that election experts said were “highly inaccurate” and “worthless.” Trump later withdrew the lawsuit on the eve of a court hearing.
Now Cobb and DeKalb counties say the former president and Shafer should pay their legal bills. In a brief filed Monday, Cobb says it spent $10,875 on the “meritless and legally deficient petition.” DeKalb says it spent $6,105.
“Given the number of failed lawsuits filed by the former president and his campaign, 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,” Cobb’s brief said.
Shafer referred a request for comment to his attorney in the case. The attorney, Ray Smith, could not immediately be reached for comment.
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