‘It was a corrupt case’: Trump continues to lie about his 2020 election interference case

A corrupt politician is claiming that a case against him is corrupt—just another day in Trump’s America.

“It was a corrupt case” said President-elect Donald Trump of the lawsuit against him and his allies for attempting to overturn 2020 election results in Georgia, as if it were a thing of the past. His statement comes on the heels of a Georgia appeals court’s decision to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the case. Willis was removed on the suspicion of a conflict of interest, as she was in a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who also worked on the case.

Despite Trump declaring the case against him “entirely dead” in an interview with Fox News, he is still not in the legal clear. The court has not thrown out the indictment against him—a 97 page document that charges him and his co-defendants with unlawful conspiracy—despite the President-elect’s opinion that that case has “no authority to proceed.” 

Trump is parroting the words of Georgia’s Court of Appeals on the matter, which issued a ruling decision that District Attorney Willis’ and all of the assistant attorneys working under her have “no authority to proceed,” due to the “impropriety” stemming from Willis’ relationship with Wade. Wade and Willis allegedly benefited from the case financially, and the pair are accused of using money granted to Wade for his involvement to take a private vacation. Willis testified that she used her own money and reimbursed Wade for the trips.

Despite Willis’ removal from the case, the court neglected to throw out the proceedings entirely, they simply ruled that the District Attorney’s office would not be allowed to pursue the case. “We cannot conclude that the record also supports the imposition of the extreme sanction of dismissal of the indictment” wrote Judge Brenton Brown for the Court’s majority opinion – meaning that the case itself is not effected by the “impropriety” stemming from Willis’ involvement. If the case is to move forward, a different prosecutor unaffiliated with the Georgia DA would need to take up the mantle.

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

The appeals court’s ruling means that the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia will be responsible to find another prosecutor to take over the case. According to AP, that will be difficult. The case against Trump and his co-defendants is vast, and a prospective prosecutor will likely require “extensive resources” in order to properly take it on. Trump’s status as president-elect further complicates the issue, and with Trump set to take office in mere months, an attorney may not want to take on the nigh-impossible task of prosecuting a sitting president. The Supreme Court’s historic ruling on presidential immunity compounds upon the difficulty, and pursing a successful conviction against Trump will prove to be an arduous, and potentially fruitless undertaking. Trump is wrong about the notion that the case against him is “dead,” but due to the myriad legal hurdles it faces, it may regrettably be dying.