‘In my professional opinion, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years,’ the prosecutor wrote.
A prosecutor in Georgia who recently took over the election-related criminal case against President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will drop charges against the president and others charged in the case.
“In my professional opinion, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years,” prosecutor Pete Skandalakis said in court papers filed on Wednesday, adding that the case should be ended to “serve the interests of justice and promote judicial finality.”
He cited a number of issues with the case, including “constitutional questions and the Supremacy Clause to immunity, jurisdiction, venue, speedy-trial concerns, and access to federal records” as a reason to not pursue charges any longer.
“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.
Should he decide to bring the case against the other defendants before Trump’s term ends, it would “be both illogical and unduly burdensome and costly for the State and for Fulton County,” the court papers said.
Trump and 18 others were charged with election-related racketeering charges in August 2023 by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was later removed from the case. An elected Democrat, Willis had launched a lengthy investigation into Trump and the others before bringing the charges.
The probe was started after Trump spoke with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about vote counting in Georgia following the November 2020 presidential election amid allegations of fraud.
The case had resulted in Trump surrendering in 2023 to a jail in Atlanta, where he had his mugshot taken for the first time. In other cases where he was charged after he left office the first time, there was no requirement for him to have his mugshot taken.
Trump had pleaded not guilty in the case, arguing that it was politically motivated and designed to harm his reelection chances. Most of the co-defendants in the case had also pleaded not guilty, although a handful of those who were charged, including former Trump personal attorney Jenna Ellis and former federal prosecutor Sidney Powell, took plea deals with Willis’s office.
Other co-defendants named in the case included former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump attorney John Eastman, former White House chief of staff and congressman Mark Meadows, and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, among others.
