A judge in the US state of Georgia on Wednesday dismissed the long-running case accusing President Donald Trump and several associates of attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state.
The decision follows a request from prosecutor Pete Skandalakis, who argued the case would be “unproductive” to pursue.
What did the prosecutor say about the Trump case?
Skandalakis, who replaced disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis earlier this month, wrote: “I recognize that, given the deep political divisions in our country, this decision will not be universally popular.” He argued in a 23-page filing that the matters at issue were fundamentally federal, not state, in nature.
He cited Special Counsel Jack Smith’s decision in late 2024 to withdraw federal charges against Trump after his return to office, saying: “If Special Counsel Jack Smith, with all the resources of the federal government at his disposal… concluded that prosecution would be fruitless, then I too find that, despite the available evidence, pursuing the prosecution… would be equally unproductive.”
Judge Scott McAfee immediately granted the motion to dismiss the proceedings. The ruling effectively ends what was once one of four criminal prosecutions involving Trump. Only one — the New York hush-money case related to a payment to a porn star during the 2016 campaign — proceeded to trial, resulting in a conviction that Trump is now seeking to overturn.
What were the allegations in the Georgia case against Trump?
Trump and 18 codefendants were charged in Georgia in 2023 under racketeering statutes and other laws, accused of attempting to pressure officials to “find” votes, target election workers, and assemble slates of false electors. Four defendants later pleaded guilty to lesser offenses.
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The prosecution had already been weakened by the December disqualification of Willis, after a Georgia appeals court cited the “impropriety” of her romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she had hired. Skandalakis also noted the near-impossibility of prosecuting a sitting president at the state level and said the trial would be unmanageable without Trump present.
Trump has issued pardons for several allies accused of attempting to subvert the 2020 election, but those actions apply only to federal crimes, not state-level charges such as those originally brought in Georgia.
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez