Georgia Prosecutor Drops Criminal Charges Against Trump in 2020 Election Case

On Wednesday, all criminal charges against President Donald Trump in Georgia related to alleged interference in the 2020 election were formally dismissed, ending a high-profile racketeering case. The decision was made by Peter Skandalakis, a state official who recently assumed control of the prosecution.

The dismissal marks a setback for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who initiated the case in 2023 but later lost oversight amid ethics complaints from defence attorneys.

This Georgia case was one of four criminal prosecutions Trump has faced since losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. Of the four, only a New York case concerning a 2016 campaign payment went to trial, resulting in a conviction that Trump is currently seeking to overturn.

Skandalakis noted in court filings that compelling a sitting president to appear for trial in Georgia was unlikely, describing further proceedings as “futile and unproductive.” He emphasised that his decision was based on legal considerations rather than political motivations.

Trump’s legal team welcomed the dismissal. His attorney, Steve Sadow, stated that the charges should never have been filed.

The case originally charged Trump and 18 co-defendants, including former advisors Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, with a conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results. The allegations arose after a recording surfaced in which Trump asked the state’s top election official to “find” enough votes to change the outcome. All co-defendants had pleaded not guilty.

Willis was removed from the case last year after an appeals court found that she had created an “appearance of impropriety” by having a personal relationship with the special prosecutor she had hired.

Skandalakis, who leads the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, a state agency that supports local prosecutors, appointed himself to oversee the case after no other prosecutor agreed to take it on. Legal experts, including Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis, have noted that the agency lacks the resources to handle a complex, multi-defendant case of this nature.