BREAKING: Georgia Prosecutor Drops Election Interference Case Against Trump
ATLANTA, GA – The Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump has been dropped, Fulton County District Attorney Peter Skandalakis announced Friday. The decision effectively ends the sprawling investigation into alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.
The case began in February 2021, prompted by the release of a recording of Trump speaking with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. In the January 2, 2021 call, Trump urged Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes,” the margin by which he lost the state to Joe Biden.
In August 2023, District Attorney Fani Willis filed an indictment alleging a conspiracy between Trump and 18 other defendants to unlawfully alter the election outcome. The charges included racketeering and other state offenses. Prosecutors argued the group “refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump.”
Four co-defendants – attorneys Sidney Powell, Kenneth cheseboro, and Jenna Ellis – reached plea deals with prosecutors, resulting in fines, suspended sentences, and community service.
Though,the case faced significant legal challenges.A judge dismissed several charges earlier in 2024, and Willis was later disqualified from the case due to concerns regarding her “beliefs and understanding of the law,” according to Skandalakis.
The dismissal announced Friday impacts the remaining co-defendants, including former New York mayor and Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani, and Mark Meadows, who served as Trump’s chief of staff during his first term.
Trump’s lead attorney, Steve Sadow, praised the decision, stating, “The political persecution of President Trump by disqualified DA Fani Willis is finally over. This case should never have been brought.”
The Georgia case was considered particularly significant because, unlike federal charges, a president cannot pardon themselves of state-level crimes. While the U.S. Supreme Court granted Trump broad immunity from federal prosecution for official acts, that ruling did not extend to state cases.
Despite taking Trump’s mugshot at the Fulton County Jail – an image embraced by his supporters – legal experts anticipated the case’s demise. “It was incredibly unlikely it was going to go forward anyway, because the amount of financial resources and man hours necessary to take on this case didn’t seem to be within the scope of what Peter Skandalakis had,” said Anthony Michael Kries, a professor at the Georgia State College of law.
Kries also expressed surprise at Skandalakis’ reasoning, noting the report “seems to give the president and some of his allies a lot of benefit of the doubt, given what the evidence brought forth looked like.”
