Trump cheers disqualification of 'corrupt' Fani Willis, says case is 'entirely dead'

EXCLUSIVE: President-elect Trump reacted to the Georgia Court of Appeals decision to disqualify "corrupt" Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her team, telling Fox News Digital that the case "is entirely dead" and that the "wonderful patriots who have been caught up in this for years" should "receive an apology." 

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Thursday disqualified Willis and her team from prosecuting Trump and co-defendants in her election interference case. 

The court did not toss the indictment but declared that Willis and her team now have "no authority to proceed." 

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said the "whole case has been a disgrace to justice." 

"It was started by the Biden DOJ as an attack on his political opponent, Donald Trump," he said, "They used anyone and anybody, and she has been disqualified, and her boyfriend has been disqualified, and they stole funds and went on trips." 

Trump said the case "should not be allowed to go any further." 

"There is no way such corrupt people can lead a case, and then it gets taken over by somebody else," Trump told Fox News Digital. "It was a corrupt case, so how could it be taken over by someone else?" 

"The case has to be thrown out because it was started corruptly by an incompetent prosecutor who received millions of dollars through her boyfriend – who received it from her – and then they went on cruises all the time," Trump said, referring to Willis' relationship with a former special prosecutor on her team, Nathan Wade. 

Willis hired Wade, her alleged partner, to prosecute Trump and benefited financially from the relationship in the form of vacations the two took using funds that his law firm received for working the case.

"Therefore, the case is entirely dead," Trump said. "Everybody should receive an apology, including those wonderful patriots who have been caught up in this for years."

Willis' office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Trump spokesman and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital that "in granting President Trump an overwhelming mandate, the American people have demanded an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all the Witch Hunts against him." 

"We look forward to uniting our country as President Trump Makes America Great Again," Cheung said. 

Willis charged Trump out of her investigation into his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state. Trump was charged with one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, three counts of criminal solicitation, six counts of criminal conspiracy, one count of filing false documents and two counts of making false statements.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.

And on Thursday, the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that the trial court "erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office." 

"The remedy crafted by the trial court to prevent an ongoing appearance of impropriety did nothing to address the appearance of impropriety that existed at times when DA Willis was exercising her broad pretrial discretion about who to prosecute and what charges to bring," the decision states. The court said while it recognizes that "an appearance of impropriety generally is not enough to support disqualification, this is the rare case in which disqualification is mandated and no other remedy will suffice to restore public confidence in the integrity of these proceedings." 

"Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s denial of the appellants’ motion to disqualify DA Willis and her office," the filing states. "As we conclude that the elected district attorney is wholly disqualified from this case, ‘the assistant district attorneys – whose only power to prosecute a case is derived from the constitutional authority of the district attorney who appointed them – have no authority to proceed,'" the decision states.