A Georgia state court has ordered Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to conduct a new search for records related to her criminal case against President Donald Trump after finding that her search methods were inadequate.

The recent order from a Fulton County Superior Court judge stems from a months-long pursuit by the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch to obtain communications between Willis’ office and the Jan. 6 select committee, as well as former special counsel Jack Smith’s team.

The order marks the latest setback in the case for Willis after a judge ordered her office in January to pay nearly $22,000 in legal fees to Judicial Watch, finding that she failed to fully respond to the watchdog’s initial open records requests.

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told Fox News his organization has been searching for Willis’ communications because he believes the district attorney improperly coordinated with the federal government to charge Trump over the 2020 election.

“The lawsuit is about any collusion and collaboration with Congress and the Justice Department, Jack Smith, and we haven’t seen the documents, but they show that there has been because their very existence shows that they were talking to them,” Fitton said.

Asked about why Willis communicating with the Jan. 6 committee or Smith would be out of line, Fitton said the mere existence of the interactions showed Willis’ work lacked independence and that her indictment against Trump and 18 others was a “political operation” rather than an “honest, good-faith process.”

“Look, if Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff are running this investigation, you can be darn sure it’s not credible,” Fitton said in reference to the former Democratic House speaker and member of the Democrat-led Jan. 6 committee, respectively.

The judge said his order was a response to an affidavit by Willis that failed to address searches of devices belonging to former Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade and chief investigator Michael Hill, both of whom were integral to the investigation into Trump’s alleged subversion of the 2020 election in Georgia.

The judge raised questions about whether their records had been properly searched, saying he noticed “omissions” and that communications may have been overlooked. Willis must respond within 14 days with a more comprehensive report of her search methods, the order stated.

In March 2025, the court ordered Willis to produce 212 pages of records, which Willis’ office later said it found only after searching for them several times and after initially denying their existence. The new order directs Willis to clarify the search protocols used for Hill’s and Wade’s records.

In 2023, Willis charged Trump and 18 co-defendants with racketeering and other violations over the 2020 election, but the case was significantly slimmed down significantly because of plea deals and dismissed charges.

Ultimately, the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Willis from the case, finding her private romantic relationship with Wade presented a conflict of interest. The case has since been shelved indefinitely.