A Georgia prosecutor has dropped the case against President Donald Trump and his associates that accused them of trying to overturn the 2020 election results.
The case was dropped on Wednesday morning, WSB reported.
Peter Skandalakis wrote, “In my professional judgment, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years.”
“Given the complexity of the legal issues at hand — ranging from constitutional questions and the Supremacy Clause to immunity, jurisdiction, venue, speedy-trial concerns, and access to federal records — and even assuming each of these issues were resolved in the State’s favor, bringing this case before a jury in 2029, 2030, or even 2031 would be nothing short of a remarkable feat,” he wrote, according to CNN.
He said he had considered separating Trump’s case from the others so they could be tried first, as the president serves out his second term, but said it “would be both illogical and unduly burdensome and costly for the State and for Fulton County,” CNN reported.
Skandalakis, the Executive Director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, appointed himself to handle the case earlier this month.
The nonpartisan group was given the job of choosing the replacement for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis when she was removed for an “appearance of impropriety” over a romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she had chosen to oversee the case, The Associated Press reported.
Several other prosecutors had declined to take up the case before Skandalakis put himself on it.
It was unlikely the case would go forth against the president, but 14 of the defendants still faced charges, including Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, the AP reported.
The president and 18 others pleaded not guilty in August 2023 to the racketeering charges they faced in their efforts to allegedly overturn the 2020 election results. The case was filed after a phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes that the president needed to win Georgia, ABC News reported.
The other defendants were accused of harassing and misleading a Georgia election worker, spreading false claims that the election was stolen and trying to persuade state leaders.
Four of the defendants — Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro and Scott Hall — entered a plea deal in exchange for their testimony against the others, ABC News reported.