Washington — The Georgia prosecutor who took over the state’s case against President Trump and his allies stemming from the 2020 presidential election told a court on Wednesday that he will no longer pursue the charges “to serve the interests of justice and promote judicial finality.”
Peter Skandalakis, who stepped in to replace Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after she was disqualified from the case, filed a motion with the Fulton County Superior Court informing it of his decision to abandon the prosecution of Mr. Trump and more than a dozen others, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
He wrote in a memo accompanying the notice that overt acts listed in the indictment that were taken by the president and other Republicans “are not acts I would consider sufficient” to sustain a racketeering case. Skandalakis said that after reviewing the evidence, he concluded that a federal prosecution was more appropriate than one pursued by the state of Georgia, and said the “strongest and most prosecutable case” against those who allegedly sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election was the one being pursued by former special counsel Jack Smith.
The president was charged with four federal counts stemming from an alleged effort to subvert the transfer of power after the 2020 election, but Smith dropped the case after Mr. Trump won a second term in the White House.
Steve Sadow, Mr. Trump’s lawyer in the Georgia case, said in response to Skandalakis’ motion, “The political persecution of President Trump by disqualified DA Fani Willis is finally over. This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare.”
Mr. Trump and 18 of his associates were indicted by a Fulton County grand jury in August 2023 under Georgia’s racketeering law and were accused of coordinating a scheme to thwart certification of the 2020 election results in the state. The indictment capped an extraordinary and historic five months, across which the president was charged in four separate cases involving allegations of conduct that bookended his first term in office. Mr. Trump was the first former president to be charged with a crime.
Two of those cases were brought by Smith and involved federal offenses, and a third was brought by the Manhattan District Attorney and stemmed from an alleged “hush money” payment to an adult film actress before the 2016 election. Smith ended his prosecutions of the president — one related to the 2020 election and the other involving his alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents after leaving office in January 2021 — after he a second term.
In the New York case, Mr. Trump was found guilty of 34 state felony counts of falsifying business records in June 2024 and has appealed the conviction.
Mr. Trump was initially charged with 13 felony counts in Georgia, but several have been dismissed in the years since the indictment was returned. He pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing.