Georgia election interference case against Trump is dropped : NPR

The landmark criminal case in Georgia against President Trump and more than a dozen of his allies for their attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election has officially come to an end.

“The case is hereby dismissed in its entirety,” Fulton Judge Scott McAfee ordered Wednesday.

Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Georgia Council of Prosecuting Attorneys, moved to stop prosecuting the remaining defendants after he took over the case from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was disqualified by the court late last year.

“The criminal conduct alleged in the Atlanta prosecution was conceived in Washington, D.C., not in the state of Georgia,” Skandalakis wrote in his article. his resignation letter. “The appropriate forum for this prosecution is the federal government, not the state of Georgia.”

The charge was the latest unsolved criminal case against Trump after a pair of federal charges — one centered on efforts to overturn the 2020 election and another on the handling of classified documents — were dropped following Trump's return to the White House earlier this year.

Trump hailed the decision on social media, writing that “LAW and JUSTICE have prevailed in the Great State of Georgia as the corrupt Fani Willis witch hunt against me and other great American patriots has been completely SENDED.”

The Fulton County District Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment.

Historical accusation

In Georgia A. Fulton County grand jury indicts Trump and 18 others, including former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, in August 2023 in a high-profile racketeering case alleging a plot to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 victory in Georgia.

The case was triggered in part by a trial in January 2021. recorded phone call Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes, one more than Trump's margin of loss in Georgia.

The Georgia case also focused on an alleged scheme to submit Trump's voter list despite Biden's victory, gaining access to sensitive voting machine data and an unsuccessful campaign to pressure government officials to interfere with the election results.

Following the grand jury indictment, Trump and his co-defendants were booked in the Fulton County Jail, and Trump's photo has become an indelible image of the case. Most of the defendants, including Trump, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Four accepted plea deals – and they remain mandatory.

The expanding case was heading toward trial when lawyers for one of Trump's defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case based on a stunning allegation: The district attorney had an improper personal relationship with the special prosecutor she hired to prosecute the case.

Willis acknowledged that such a relationship existed, but said it had nothing to do with the case.

Judge McAfee ultimately ruled that Willis could continue on whether special prosecutor Nathan Wade will resign. But a few months later, the Georgia Court of Appeals canceled this decisionremoving Willis and her office from the case. Georgia Supreme Court later refused to consider the appealleaving the removal alone.

Skandalakis, a nonpartisan official accused by Georgia law of appointing a special prosecutor, announced in November that he I would take this matter upon myself after he was unable to recruit anyone else to take over the case.

“It’s important that someone decides on this case,” Skandalakis said in a September interview. “This is important for the community, frankly, for the nation, for the accused, for all the parties involved.”

This did not mean that his decision would be to proceed with the prosecution. Although the state's charges were isolated from those brought by the U.S. Justice Department, Trump's lawyers argued the case could not proceed until he leaves office in 2029.

The decision now taken to drop the charges completely means that the case will not continue even in this case.

“This decision will not be universally popular.”

In making his decision, Skandalakis said he will carefully review the indictment, the law and the case file, including the banker's 101 boxes of documents and an 8-terabyte hard drive containing the entire investigation.

Among the options Skandalakis could consider were dropping the charges against Trump but continuing the case against some or all of his co-defendants or asking a grand jury to replace or update the indictment. The statute of limitations for most felonies in Georgia is four years and five years for racketeering charges.

Skandalakis stressed that it would be inappropriate to continue criminal prosecution. He said the charges relate to Ruby Freeman, an election official in Georgia who faced threats and harassment after being falsely accused of fraudcould continue, but it should be held in Cobb, not Fulton County.

While cases against some Trump allies involved in attempts to overturn the election continue in courts in other states, the Georgia decision ends one of the most high-profile and wide-ranging legal cases.

Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis disagrees with Skandalakis' conclusion that the state's justice system played no role in the case.

Kreis said states play a critical role in accountability in election cases because, unlike in federal cases, the president cannot pardon people on state charges.

He also said the decision could loosen the checks, meaning it would be up to private actors such as secretaries of state rather than the legal system to step in and stop efforts to interfere with the election results.

And Kreis said the trial would be a chance for the public to hear the evidence for themselves.

“This really was an opportunity for justice and reconciliation and to kind of tell a truth that had been missed,” Crace said.

In his proposal, Skandalakis wrote: “I recognize that, given the deep political divisions in our country, this decision will not be universally popular.” He said his family received threats after he took over the case.

“The role of the prosecutor is not to satisfy public opinion or achieve universal approval; such a goal is unattainable and has no bearing on the proper exercise of prosecutorial powers,” he continued. “My assessment of this case was based solely on the evidence, the law and principles of justice.”