Georgia prosecutor kills the historic election interference case against Trump and allies
By Dan Berman, Holmes Lybrand, CNN
(CNN) — A Georgia prosecutor on Wednesday officially dropped the historic racketeering case against President Donald Trump and others for attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, closing the chapter in a legal effort once seen as a grave threat to Trump’s political future.
The move means that Trump has dodged criminal legal jeopardy for his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. The federal cases against Trump from special counsel Jack Smith on election interference leading up to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot and mishandling classified documents were previously dropped.
“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,” Peter Skandalakis, the prosecutor on the case, wrote Wednesday.
Skandalakis said that he considered severing Trump’s case from his codefendants and attempt to try them first, while waiting for the conclusion of Trump’s second term. However, he said, “would be both illogical and unduly burdensome and costly for the State and for Fulton County.”
The citizens of Georgia would not be served by continuing the case, he said.
The historic state racketeering charges were filed against Trump and 18 others on August 14, 2023, by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis, an elected Democrat who launched a lengthy investigation into Trump’s alleged interference in the Georgia election in early 2021.
The investigation began shortly after a January phone call became public in which Trump pressured Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to “find” the votes necessary for him to win the state in the Presidential election.
Willis was eventually removed from the case after a lengthy legal fight over her authority. When Trump won the presidency in 2024 it put the prosecution in jeopardy. Wednesday, Skandalakis, director of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia, issued the final order.
The high-profile case peaked in dramatic fashion when Trump surrendered in the Atlanta jail for a little over 20 minutes in August 2023, where he was forced to provide his mug shot for the first time.
The case was seen as the most likely of the various criminal charges surrounding Trump to go to trial because it was a state case handled by a local Georgia prosecutor, rather than federal charges that could be pardoned.
Skandalakis declined to comment for this story.
This story is developing and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
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