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Meet the American who created NASCAR: Bill France Sr., Daytona speed demon, racetrack pioneer
Bill France Sr. was born with a mind for business, a gift for people and a need for speed.
He turned those passions into a nationwide obsession with stock car racing.
France founded the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing — NASCAR — on Feb. 21, 1948, in Daytona Beach, Florida.
NASCAR has grown into the world’s premier stock car racing circuit. “Big Bill,” as he was known, is the unquestioned godfather of the autosport.
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“His story is a great American success story,” NASCAR historian Ken Martin told Fox News Digital.
“And NASCAR is the great American sport.”
Bill France Sr. in the pre-NASCAR days. France, a native of Washington, D.C., moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, in his 20s, ran an auto shop and raced cars before founding NASCAR in 1948. (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)
Stock cars, at least in the sport’s earliest years, were essentially production-model cars turned into racing vehicles.
“Bill’s vision was to basically take cars from the assembly line and put them on the racetrack to see who built the better car, the faster car, the more durable car,” said Martin.
“His story is a great American success story.” — NASCAR historian Ken Martin
“He knew Americans could relate to the vehicles on the racetrack. He also knew he could generate support from Detroit by pitting Chevys against Fords.”
Much as football is a largely American sports phenomenon — other countries dabble in it — stock car racing remains a largely American form of auto competition.
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Bill France Sr. was enamored with auto racing as a child and became a master of auto mechanics. He also had a passion for putting his mechanical skills to the test behind the wheels of race cars.
Bill France Sr. looks on from the track he created circa 1959 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)
“He was a gearhead,” said Martin. “But also a competitor.”
France boasted mechanical knowledge, fearlessness behind the wheel, a towering physical stature (6 foot 5 inches) and a charismatic personal presence.
He commanded respect from the toughest drivers in the nation — the proverbial backwoods moonshine runners who fueled the early pool of race-car drivers.
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“Well, let’s just say he ‘ran the show,’” NASCAR legend Richard Petty wrote in the foreword to “Big Bill: The Life and Times of NASCAR Founder Bill France Sr.,” a 2015 biography by H.A. Branham.
“Let’s just say he ‘ran the show.’ — NASCAR legend Richard Petty of Bill France Sr.
“It was ‘his show’ and I think that everybody that raced in NASCAR for him knew it was ‘his show.’”
“The big man had big dreams,” writes the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame, “and he made them come true.”
Birthplace of NASCAR
Bill France Sr. was born on Sept. 26, 1909 in Washington, D.C., to William Henry France and Emma (Graham) France, his mother an immigrant from Ireland.
Bill France Sr., was an early open-wheel race driver long before he embraced the future with full-bodied stock cars. Here he shows off this Model T-based sprinter at a track in Maryland in 1931. (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)
He fueled his passion for speed as a teenager by racing his Model T at a wooden track in Laurel, Maryland.
He moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1934 with his wife, Anne (Bledsoe) — a nurse and North Carolina native — plus their year-old son Bill Jr. with only “a set of tools and $25 cash,” according to one origin legend.
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All three Frances became transformational figures in NASCAR.
Anne served as a longtime NASCAR executive. Bill Jr. took over NASCAR from his father, running the circuit from 1972 until 2000.
Despite arriving in Daytona during the depths of the Great Depression, Bill Sr. landed a job working for local mechanic Saxton Lloyd. It was an opportunity for which France would show his gratitude years later.
He opened his own service station and became a prominent local mechanic while racing cars on Daytona Beach.
The city’s legendary beach-street course raced two miles up the sand, turned on a ramp, then sped two miles back down State Route A1A on pavement before repeating the circuit.
Daytona Beach hosted its first beach-street race in 1936. France finished fifth as a driver, while serving as the pre-race mechanic for winning driver Milt Marion, behind the wheel of a Ford.
“By 1938 the city realized they were not the best at promoting racing,” said Martin. “They asked France to help promote it.”
Sports entertainment exploded across America in the years after the war.
World War II interrupted Daytona’s effort to become the hub of stock car racing.
France put his mechanical abilities toward the war effort.
Before he became “Mr. NASCAR,” Bill France Sr. was a prosperous Daytona Beach garage owner and gasoline retailer. France’s gas station at 316 Main Street was also a haven for area racers anxious to have work performed on their race cars. This 1940s business card shows “Big Bill’s” inventiveness. (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)
“Bill Sr., at age 32, was not eligible for the draft and went to work building ‘subchasers’ at the Daytona Boat Works — a major employer of Volusia County residents,” writes biographer Branham.
Sports entertainment exploded across America in the years after the war. The NBA was founded in 1946. Pro football expanded to the West Coast the same year when the NFL Rams moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles.
France added stock car racing to the national menu of sports options.
The rival new All-America Football Conference was also founded in 1946, with familiar franchises such as the 49ers, Browns and Colts soon absorbed by the NFL.
France added stock car racing to the national menu of sports options.
He led a meeting with other drivers, mechanics and auto enthusiasts in December 1947 at Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach to make plans for a new professional stock car racing circuit with uniform rules, regulations and standards.
A series of three meetings convened at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach to establish criteria for professional stock car racing, leading to NASCAR’s formation. On Dec. 14, 1947: Front row, kneeling (L-R), Chick DiNatale, Jimmy Quisenberry, Ed Bruce, Jack Peters, Alvin Hawkins. Back row, standing (L-R), Freddie Horton, Sam Packard, Ed Samples (hidden), Joe Ross, Marshall Teague, Bill Tuthill, Joe Littlejohn, Bob Osiecki, Buddy Shuman, Lucky Sauer (hidden), Tom Galan, Eddie Bland, Bill France Sr., Bob Richards, Harvey Tattersall Jr., Fred Dagavar, Bill Streeter, Jimmy Cox. (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)
NASCAR was formed two months later, with France its chief executive.
The site of the Streamline Hotel “stands to this day as a racing landmark,” says the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
‘World Center of Racing’
Daytona was a magnet for speed enthusiasts in the earliest days of the automobile — long before France arrived and even before France was born.
One of the gas stations Bill France Sr. operated in Daytona Beach, Florida, around the time NASCAR was formed in 1947 is shown here. (ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)
“On the hard-packed sands of Florida’s east coast, the idea of racing automobiles became a reality in 1903,” writes Michael Hembree in “NASCAR: The Definitive History of America’s Sport.”
“At Ormond Beach, north of Daytona, wealthy winter visitors to the resort area eyed the long flat beach stretches as an ideal landscape for tinkering with their toys.”
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The region’s hard, flat beaches made it the perfect proving ground for daredevils of the day, who topped 200 miles per hour in the straight-shot speed efforts.
English racer Sir Malcolm Campbell astounded onlookers by reaching a record speed of 278.6 MPH on Daytona Beach in 1935, propelled over the land by an aircraft engine.
Fans react in 1940 as a driver rolls his car during a stock car race on the Daytona Beach-Road Course. Three races were held on the beach that year and were won by Roy Hall, Bill France (later the founder of NASCAR) and Buck Mathis. A special “ladies only” race was also held; it attracted 13 contestants, including France’s wife Anne. Evelyn Reed won the event. (ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)
Auto enthusiasts soon found an even better proving ground out west: the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah.
The salt flats were harder, straighter and faster, without the inconvenience or even danger of rising tides.
Daytona lost one of its cash cows. It turned to racing as a way to replace the business lost to Bonneville, said Martin.
“Daytona was looking to plug a hole in its economy,” said Ken Martin, when it tapped France to help promote its beach-street races in the 1930s.
“France put his plans for the future of racing in Daytona Beach, Florida, in motion on April 4, 1953, with a proposal to construct a permanent speedway facility,” reports the speedway in an online account of its history.
Before the asphalt was laid, Bill France Sr., and members of his NASCAR staff parked these cars on a turn of the under-construction Daytona International Speedway in December 1958. France gambled nearly everything he owned in building the facility that is known as “The World Center of Racing.” (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)
He envisioned, planned and funded the racetrack of the future: Daytona International Speedway.
“France put his plans for the future of racing in Daytona Beach, Florida, in motion on April 4, 1953, with a proposal to construct a permanent speedway facility,” reports the speedway in an online account of its history.
English racer Sir Malcolm Campbell astounded onlookers by reaching a record speed of 278.6 MPH on Daytona Beach in 1935.
“On August 16, 1954, France signed a contract with City of Daytona Beach and Volusia County officials to build what would become Daytona International Speedway, the ‘World Center of Racing.”
The 2.5-mile speedway opened in 1959. Among its ground-breaking features: 31-degree banking turns that allowed race cars to maintain dramatic speeds in the turns.
The Daytona infield boasted a 29-acre lake — Lake Lloyd, named in honor of the mechanic who gave France his first job in Daytona.
NASCAR driver Michael McDowell poses with his team as he competes at the annual Hot Rods & Reels Celebrity Fishing Tournament to benefit The Darrell Gwynn Chapter of The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis at Daytona International Speedway’s Lake Lloyd, Feb. 18, 2022. Lake Lloyd is named for Saxton Lloyd, a mechanic who gave Bill France Sr. his first job in Daytona. (James Gilbert/Getty Images for The Buoniconti Fund To Cure Paralysis)
France built an even larger track in Alabama, the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway, in 1969.
“He had a vision for building these huge race tracks, because he knew they’d handle high speeds and attract huge crowds,” said Martin.
Daytona International Speedway, France’s speedway, remains NASCAR’s premier track.
The circuit kicks off the new racing season each February with the Daytona 500. It’s also been the site of the sport’s most important events.
Racing legend Dale Earnhardt won his first Daytona 500 after 20 attempts in February 1998 — “a major event” in NASCAR history by the beloved driver, said Martin.
“Dale Earnhardt’s death was a pivotal moment in (NASCAR) history.” — Ken Martin
It’s also where Earnhardt was tragically killed in February 2001, on the last lap of the Daytona 500.
“NASCAR has lost its greatest driver ever, and I personally have lost a great friend,” Bill France Jr., then NASCAR’s chairman, said in the aftermath.
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Earnhardt’s death was one of the first events that “blew up the internet,” to use a more recent term. The nationwide outpouring displayed over the internet proved Earnhardt’s popularity — and that NASCAR had become far more than just a regional phenomenon.
Dale Earnhardt checks out the view from the newly completed Earnhardt Grandstand during winter testing, two weeks before the Daytona 500, at Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, in this file photo from Feb. 2001. He was killed on the last lap of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18, 2001. (Brian Cleary/Getty Images)
The tragedy at Daytona, said Martin, ultimately made NASCAR better and safer.
NASCAR moved the driver’s seat closer to the center of the vehicle, built a “cocoon” around the drivers, mandated head restraints and built soft-barrier walls to absorb some of the impact of a crash.
“Earnhardt’s death was a pivotal moment in our history,” said Martin. “It made everyone refocus on safety.”
‘Something to do with all of this’
Bill France Sr. died on June 7, 1992, after battling Alzheimer’s disease. He was 82.
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NASCAR today is recognized as the world’s premier stock car racing circuit with a devoted fan base around the nation.
Races have expanded far beyond NASCAR’s early southeastern base. NASCAR races are held from California to New England, and from Austin to Milwaukee.
NASCAR founder and former CEO Bill France Sr., left, talks with a U.S. Secret Service agent regarding security for Vice President George H.W. Bush prior to the start of the 1983 Daytona 500 stock car race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach. Bush served as the race’s honorary starter. (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
About 2.5 million people attend NASCAR races each year, generating about $200 million in revenue, according to industry data. Millions more watch each race on television.
NASCAR inked an $8.2 billion, 10-year deal with Fox Sports and NBC Sports in 2015.
NASCAR was briefly publicly traded, but is once again run by the France family.
“Big Bill” has enjoyed countless honors in the sports world.
NASCAR founder and president Bill France Sr. walking down the raceway at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Florida, on Feb. 16, 1968. (Eric Schweikardt /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
He’s a member of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, the Automotive Hall of Fame, the Daytona Beach Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame and — of course — the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
“I think Bill Sr. would be proud of NASCAR today, proud of the fact that his son took it one step further than he did and proud that his grandson has taken it another step further,” Richard Petty wrote in “Big Bill: The Life and Times of NASCAR Founder Bill France Sr.”Bill Sr. would be proud of NASCAR today, proud of the fact that his son took it one step further than he did and proud that his grandson has taken it another step further
“Bill Sr. would be proud of NASCAR today, proud of the fact that his son took it one step further than he did and proud that his grandson has taken it another step further.” (Fox Nation)
“Now, he wouldn’t have done it the same way, but he would have sat back and told you: ‘Yeah, I had something to do with all of this.’”
To read more stories in this unique “Meet the American Who…” series from Fox News Digital, click here.
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While the world can often feel like a discouraging place, there are plenty of people – both those who have sworn to protect and serve, as well as regular citizens – who are willing to go above and beyond for others.
Here are some examples of law enforcement officers and good Samaritans taking heroic action over the past year.
Arkansas police officer saves boy who fell through ice on pond
Last January, a police officer in Jonesboro, Arkansas, sprang into lifesaving action after a boy fell through the ice on a frozen pond.
Body camera footage shared by the department showed Officer Troy Ellison running through the snow and jumping a fence before getting on his hands and knees to help the boy.
HERO POLICE OFFICER SAVES TERRIFIED BOY FROM FROZEN POND
Jonesboro police officer rescues child who had fallen through ice into freezing pond in Arkansas. (Jonesboro Police Department)
“I gotcha, I gotcha,” he is heard saying in the footage.
Soon after, another officer and a fire official arrived and helped Ellison pull the boy out of the pond with a rope.
The boy was taken to a hospital to be checked for any cold weather injuries.
“’Great Job’ goes to one of our officers who responded to a call about a child falling through ice on a local pond,” a Facebook post from the Jonesboro Police Department, who shared the video, read.
“Officer Troy Ellison sprung into action when he arrived on the scene. He quickly located the child, crawled onto the ice, and pulled the child to safety with the help of Lt. Shon Morris and members of the Jonesboro Fire Department.”
WATCH:
Arizona officers save baby being held hostage
In May, a team of officers in Surprise, Arizona, entered a barricaded home where a 7-month-old baby was allegedly being held hostage by his father and had been shot.
“I thought that one of us or multiple of us would get hurt going inside the house,” Surprise Officer Carlton Williams told “FOX News @ Night” in October. “The fact that the gentleman had already shot at officers multiple times, there was no doubt in my mind that we had to make entry into the home.”
The department had received a 911 call about a woman and her baby being held hostage by the baby’s father. The mother escaped, but the child was still inside when the team of officers forced their way in after hearing gunfire.
They found the baby at the back of the house and one officer took him to safety while the others provided cover – all without firing any shots.
The baby was taken to a hospital to recover and was reunited with his mother. The father later died after barricading himself in the home and lighting it on fire.
“This is as close as it gets to a perfect operation,” law enforcement expert Aaron Cohen said. “They’ve got to get to the end of that structure and get to that kid, and they have no idea what’s laying behind that door.”
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California police officer saves choking boy
In June, a police officer in El Monte, California, saved the life of an 8-year-old boy who had fallen unconscious after choking on a piece of candy.
“I just saw him purple, he was already unconscious, so… neighbors and I were trying to do compressions on his chest, breathe through his mouth, but nothing seemed to be working,” the boy’s mother, Vanessa Becerra-Aguayo, told “Fox News @ Night.” “He was unable to talk to me, so he was unconscious the whole time until the police arrived.”
Officer Raul Vega said he used his LifeVac “anti-choking, rescue device” to clear the boy’s airway.
“It’s basically like a plunger, like a foam plunger, and you place the device over the person’s mouth, and you press to get, you know, suction in and while you’re holding it down, you pull it up, and that allows the object to become dislodged and the airway to open up,” he said.
After two tries, the candy came out of the boy’s throat, and he later woke up in the ambulance.
HEROIC POLICE OFFICER SAVES CHILD CHOKING ON CANDY: HE WAS ‘PURPLE’
Indiana police officer saves boy with autism from drowning in pool
In September, an Indiana police officer was hailed as a hero after he saved a 3-year-old boy with autism from drowning in a neighbor’s pool.
After responding to a report that the boy was missing when his parents realized the door had been left unlocked and he had gotten out of the home, Fort Wayne Police Officer Evan Myers began to search the area with other officers.
After seeing the boy swimming in the neighbor’s above-ground pool, he ran over and got the boy out.
“He’s breathing and is conscious,” Myers is heard saying in body camera footage. “Are you OK, buddy?”
“I want to personally thank him deeply for just being able to find my son,” the boy’s mom, Savannah Ybarra, told local station WPTA.
WATCH: HERO INDIANA OFFICER SAVES MISSING AUTISTIC BOY, 3, FROM DROWNING IN POOL
WATCH:
Georgia passerby saves homeowner from house fire
In October, a passerby saved a Winterville, Georgia, homeowner who woke up from a nap to find his house engulfed in smoke and flames.
David McConnell told FOX5 Atlanta he could hardly see and he tried to leave his house through his front door but his storm door – a secondary door installed over the door – was locked.
Dylan Betts, who was driving home from work when he saw the smoke, raced to McConnell’s house and “ripped it off and then kicked it in,” he said.
Betts said he stepped inside the home through a “thick wall of black smoke” and called out.
GEORGIA PASSERBY SAVES MAN FROM BURNING HOME BY KICKING DOWN STORM DOOR
David McConnell’s house went up in flames on Oct. 29. (Athens-Clarke County Fire Department)
“Mr. David, luckily, heard my voice, and he came right to me,” Betts told FOX5.
When the outlet asked Betts why he risked his life to save a stranger, Betts responded, “Why not? That’s America.”
McConnell said his family calls Betts “our hero,” and even gave Betts tickets to a Georgia/Tennessee football game as a small thank you for saving his life.
Oklahoma police officer and good Samaritan save sleeping man from rolling off bridge
In November, a quick-thinking police officer and a good Samaritan teamed up to save a man who said he fell asleep on a guardrail of a bridge about 40 feet over the Oklahoma River.
An Oklahoma City police officer identified as Officer Reyes went to check on the sleeping man lying on the bridge’s guardrail when the man turned and slipped.
Reyes grabbed the man by his hoodie as he dangled over the waters below.
SLEEPING MAN SAVED FROM ROLLING OFF BRIDGE BY POLICE OFFICER, GOOD SAMARITAN IN DRAMATIC VIDEO
WATCH:
A good Samaritan jogger then ran over to help Reyes grab the man’s arms and pull him to safety.
The man wasn’t hurt in the incident.
Oklahoma City Police Msgt. Gary Knight told News9, “It’s a real hero type thing when you see an officer spring into action – save someone’s life with the help of a citizen.”
Fox News’ Michael Dorgan, Maria Lencki, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Former federal prosecutor in death row case speaks on Biden commuting murderer's sentence: 'My heart aches'
A former federal prosecutor in the case that sent a man to death row says it is difficult to see a “remorseless murderer” be relieved of his sentence following President Biden’s decision on Monday to commute nearly all federal inmates facing execution.
Brandon Council, of North Carolina, was sentenced to death by a federal jury on Oct. 3, 2019, after he was found guilty of killing two women who worked at a South Carolina bank during a robbery in 2017.
Council was one of the 37 convicted murderers who will now spend life in prison without parole after Biden reclassified their death sentences.
Derek Shoemake, former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina and one of the federal prosecutors in the case against Council, told Fox News Digital it was “one of the greatest professional honors” of his life to pursue justice for victims Donna Major, 59, and Kathryn Skeen, 36, and his heart aches for their families following Biden’s decision.
BIDEN COMMUTES SENTENCES OF 37 FEDERAL DEATH ROW INMATES IN FINAL MONTH OF PRESIDENCY
Donna Major, 59, and Kathryn (Katie) Skeen, 36, were killed in cold blood by Brandon Council while he robbed a South Carolina bank in 2017. (Derek Shoemake)
“Donna and Katie were amazing women, wonderful mothers, and beacons of light in their community. Today my thoughts and prayers are with their families, and my heart aches for them as they process this news,” Shoemake said in a statement.
He also said his thoughts and prayers are with the team who “worked for more than a year” getting justice for Major and Skeen, “ensuring a remorseless murderer received a sentence that spoke to the horrific nature of his senseless crimes.”
Brandon Council is one of 37 federal death row inmates who escaped execution following President Biden’s decision to commute their sentences. (DeathPenaltyInfo.org)
Council entered CresCom Bank in Conway, South Carolina, on Aug. 21, 2017, with the intention of robbing the business and killing its employees, according to a 2017 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina (USAO-SC).
After making it inside, Council shot Major, who was the bank teller, multiple times with a revolver, the USAO-SC said at the time. He then ran into Skeen’s office, where she worked as the bank’s manager, and shot her multiple times while she hid under her desk.
Before fleeing the bank, he stole keys to both victims’ cars, their bank cards and more than $15,000 in cash. He took one of the vehicles to a motel he was staying at, packed his luggage and drove off.
FBI AGENT SAYS BANK ROBBERY SUSPECT BRANDON COUNCIL CONFESSED HE WOULD KILL
“It is difficult to see a sentence wiped away from 400 miles away after it was legally imposed by a jury of men and women from South Carolina who spent weeks listening to evidence, deliberating, and carefully deciding the appropriate punishment,” Shoemake said.
He also said it hurts that the victims’ families “will celebrate yet another Christmas without their loved ones,” while Council is among the 37 federally convicted murderers “celebrating a political victory.”
BIDEN’S DECISION TO COMMUTE SENTENCES FOR DEATH ROW INMATES SPARKS SOCIAL MEDIA FRENZY
Most federal death row inmates were housed at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
Shoemake said his focus is not on the political debate surrounding Biden’s commutations, but on the “legacy of love, family, and faith” that Major and Skeen embodied.
“I pray for their families, as I so often do, and I pray for all the victims’ families impacted today,” he said.
In a White House statement announcing the commutations on Monday, Biden said he condemns the murderers and their “despicable acts,” and he grieves for the victims and families who have suffered “unimaginable and irreparable loss,” but he “cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”
President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 convicted murderers on federal death row, converting their punishments to life imprisonment. He left Tree of Life Synagogue shooter Robert Bowers (left), Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof (middle) and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (right). (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, from left, Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, FBI via AP)
Only three inmates remain on federal death row as Biden’s presidency nears its end. They are Tree of Life Synagogue shooter Robert Bowers, Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
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Southeast
Fani Willis' disqualification from Trump case has 'overwhelming' impact, legal expert says
George Washington University law professor Jonthan Turley said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was “wrong” to bring the Georgia election interference case against President-elect Trump after a Georgia court disqualified Willis and her team from prosecuting the case on Thursday.
GEORGIA APPEAL COURT DISQUALIFIES DA FANI WILLIS AND HER TEAM FROM TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE
JONATHAN TURLEY: The immediate impact of this decision is overwhelming in terms of Willis herself. I mean, this court is basically saying that these cases are not supposed to be sort of vanity projects. You know, you were told by the lower court that you created this appearance of impropriety and the question for the court is why you didn’t remove yourself. Many of us at the time said that most prosecutors would have seen that their continuation of the case was harming the case and harming the public interest. Willis simply refused to give up the ghost and insisted that she wanted to be the lead in this.
…
She was wrong to bring the case against Trump. You know, there are some viable claims here. You know, she charged some people with unlawful entry or access to restricted areas. Those are not particularly serious crimes, but they are crimes. She was wrong to go after Trump on this basis. She clearly wanted to engage in lawfare, and that’s one of the reasons why she wouldn’t give up the case. You know, when this issue was first raised, many of us wrote at the time that the correct move was to remove yourself. You selected a former lover as the lead counsel. That violated, in my view, core ethical requirements. He was ultimately disqualified by the court. But Judge McAfee gave her a chance to do the right thing. He said, look, this is your conduct is wrong here and you can remove yourself. Well, he was talking to the wrong person. She had no interest in removing herself. I mean, lawfare is only valuable if you’re the lead warrior, and she was not going to give up that position.
Fani Willis — the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia — previously said the allegations brought against her of having an “improper” romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade were made because she is Black. (Getty Images)
The court did not toss Trump’s indictment entirely, but Willis and the assistant DAs working in her office now have “no authority to proceed.”
“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office,” the filing states. “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.”
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.”
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Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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