President Donald Trump unleashed a scathing attack on Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on September 16, 2025, calling her a “criminal” who “should be put in jail” for her role in prosecuting his Georgia election interference case. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump celebrated a Georgia Supreme Court ruling that declined to hear Willis’s appeal, permanently disqualifying her from the blockbuster RICO case against him and 18 co-defendants. “What Fani Willis did to innocent people, patriots that love our country, by indicting them and destroying them, she should be prosecuted,” Trump declared, labeling the indictment a “rigged witch hunt.”
The court’s 4-3 decision upholds a December 2024 appeals court ruling that removed Willis due to an “appearance of impropriety” from her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired and paid over $650,000. Trial Judge Scott McAfee had ordered either Willis or Wade to step aside, leading to Wade’s resignation, but the appeals court barred Willis’s entire office from continuing. The case, stemming from Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 Georgia loss, now falls to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia to appoint a replacement, though experts doubt it will proceed given Trump’s presidency.
Willis, who indicted Trump in August 2023 on charges including racketeering and conspiracy, has vowed to fight on, calling the disqualification a “political hit job.” Her office argued the relationship posed no actual conflict, but the court disagreed. Trump, facing no immediate trial threat, used the victory to rail against “weaponized” justice, echoing his broader narrative of persecution.
The ruling caps one of four criminal cases against Trump, with federal and New York matters resolved or paused. As Willis’s future hangs in the balance, Trump’s calls for her prosecution intensify partisan divides over accountability in high-stakes probes.
