A Fulton County judge has dismissed the criminal case against President Donald Trump and co-defendants who were accused of trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Judge Scott McAfee granted the dismissal after Peter J. Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, asked the court to drop the charges. Skandalakis had been tapped this month to take over the prosecution after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was removed from the case amid questions about a conflict of interest stemming from a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in 2023. Four alleged co-conspirators later pleaded guilty and agreed to testify. Skandalakis, who said he could not find another attorney willing to take the case from Willis, argued the matter properly belonged in federal court and that prosecuting a sitting president in Georgia posed practical and legal obstacles.
Skandalakis acknowledged there was widespread, unfounded belief that the 2020 election had been stolen, writing that state audits confirmed no substantial voter fraud occurred even as “millions of citizens and hundreds of politicians continued to make unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.” He said the federal special counsel process would have been the more appropriate forum to determine whether any actions amounted to crimes provable beyond a reasonable doubt.
Central to the case was the January 2021 phone call in which Trump urged Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to change the state’s result. Skandalakis called that call “concerning” but said it was not a definitive “smoking gun.” He reasoned reasonable minds could differ on whether Trump was asking Raffensperger to fabricate votes or to investigate fraud Trump sincerely—but mistakenly—believed had occurred.
Skandalakis emphasized timing and immunity issues in asking for dismissal. He wrote that the phone call occurred nearly five years ago and that two years have passed since the indictments. With Trump serving a term that Skandalakis noted would not end until January 20, 2029, he said it was unrealistic a sitting president could be compelled to appear in Georgia to face trial and that any prosecution after Trump leaves office would likely be delayed by protracted disputes over presidential immunity.
Skandalakis did not state definitively whether he believed Trump committed crimes, but concluded Georgia was not the best venue to resolve the core questions. He suggested that Jack Smith’s federal investigation and prosecution would have been the appropriate avenue. Smith’s federal cases alleging election interference and mishandling of classified documents were dropped after Trump’s 2024 re-election, when Smith concluded it would be unlawful to continue prosecuting a sitting president.
Skandalakis considered severing the other defendants and pursuing them separately from Trump but found that would be “illogical and unduly burdensome and costly” for the state and Fulton County. The alleged conspiracy encompassed a range of acts, including a meeting of so-called alternate electors who met at the state Capitol, a harassment campaign targeting Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman, and a breach of election systems in Coffee County.
After reviewing the matter, Skandalakis found that the alternate electors did not display criminal intent to overthrow the election result; he had reached a similar conclusion earlier regarding then-state Sen. Burt Jones (now lieutenant governor). He also noted that key figures connected to the Coffee County breach—attorney Sidney Powell and bail bondsman Scott Hall—pleaded guilty, and that pursuing charges against lower-level defendants such as former Coffee County election supervisor Misty Hampton or local GOP chair Cathy Latham would not serve the state’s interest.
Skandalakis described Freeman as “a genuinely sympathetic figure,” but said the alleged harassment against her did not occur in Fulton County and should be prosecuted in Cobb County, where she lived at the time.
The dismissal carries potential financial implications for defendants. A law passed this year allows criminal defendants to seek reimbursement of legal costs if the prosecuting attorney is disqualified for personal or professional misconduct, raising the prospect that Fulton County could be required to cover some defense fees.
Reactions fell along partisan lines. Trump lawyer Steve Sadow praised the decision, calling it an end to “political persecution” by Willis. Georgia Republican Party chair Josh McKoon expressed relief and vindication for those indicted. By contrast, Georgia Democratic chair Charlie Bailey called the dismissal “a travesty” and argued it denied voters accountability after a grand jury had indicted 19 people for attempting to overturn the state’s election; he noted multiple co-defendants had pleaded guilty.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s office did not immediately comment.
This article was originally published by Georgia Recorder and is republished under a Creative Commons license.
