(Kim Jarrett, The Center Square) Election interference charges in Georgia against second-term Republican President Donald Trump were motioned for dismissal Wednesday by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council.
In response, the president later in the day said again the 2020 election was stolen. On social media, the second-term Republican called the case the “Fani Willis Witch Hunt” and accused Democrats of orchestrating it.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had sought to prosecute Trump and his allies, charging them with trying to overturn the state’s election results. Trump became the first president since 1992 to lose, topped by Joe Biden 306-232 in the electoral college votes and 51.3%-46.9% in popular vote.
Willis last year was disqualified from the case after it was revealed she had a romantic relationship with the lead prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Peter Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia, moved to dismiss the case after taking over the prosecution. He appointed himself, he said, after no other prosecutor would take the case.
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee signed the order on Wednesday.
In his post, Trump described Willis’ pursuit as an “illegal, unconstitutional and un-American hoax.”
“This case should have never been brought in the first place,” the president wrote.
In a rambling 105-word sentence, he challenged Willis’ ethics; Wade’s credentials for helping the prosecution; Wade’s honesty; and use of taxpayer money by Willis and Wade. He said Willis and Wade acted at the behest of Biden.
Trump has not presented evidence the 2020 election results were rigged. He said Democrats attacked him for telling the “truth” that the election was “stolen.”
The president added, “We have to hold responsible those who attempted to destroy our legal system and nation itself as they tried to use it to silence and imprison political opponents for protecting our country, and exercising our First Amendment rights. The few remaining Democrat witch hunts will soon meet the same embarrassing end.”
The Georgia election interference case was the last pending criminal prosecution against Trump related to the 2020 election. A federal case against him was dismissed after he won reelection last year.
Skandalakis took over the Georgia case after Willis lost a state Supreme Court bid to keep it. He said he could not find another prosecutor willing to advance it, and said he moved to drop it “to serve the interest of justice and promote judicial finality.”
“For all remaining defendants, this disposition meets the criteria for the Georgia Crime Information Center to Restrict access to the criminal history for this arrest…,” the motion said.
Skandalakis said he would have no further comments.
Richard Rose, who leads Communities United for Justice, is one of four Georgians who sued to remove Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones from holding office after Jones was accused of scheming to replace Biden’s votes with votes for Trump. Skandalakis announced last year that Jones would not be charged.
Rose told The Center Square in a recent interview that based on that decision, he was doubtful Skandalakis would move forward on the election interference case.
“He’ll come up with some reason,” Rose said. “You should have read his rationale for not having prosecuted Burt Jones. He said he was a nice guy, he didn’t mean any harm. Just silliness.”
Steve Sadow, lead counsel in the election interference case, said the “case should have never been brought.”
“The political persecution of President Trump by disqualified DA Fani Willis is finally over,” Steve Sadow said in a statement. “A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare.”
Georgia Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones II, D-Augusta, called the dismissal a “setback for justice.”
“I am deeply disappointed in today’s decision, which allows President Donald Trump to evade accountability for his clear violations of Georgia law,” Jones said in a statement. “By dismissing this case, the court has enabled him and his coconspirators to avoid responsibility for their coordinated effort to overturn Georgia’s election results and steal the 2020 election.”
