New prosecutor takes over Georgia’s election interference case against Trump

A new prosecutor will preside over a Georgia election interference case that led to President Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and others facing racketeering charges over their attempts to “find” enough votes to swing the state to Trump in the 2020 presidential election. The new prosecutor hasn’t yet signaled how the case will proceed.

Peter Skandalakis, executive director of the nonpartisan Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, appointed himself as lead prosecutor on the case after he said other prosecutors declined appointment. The Georgia Supreme Court recently upheld the disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis because of alleged improprieties with a special prosecutor, according to CNN.

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Skandalakis said he received 101 boxes of documents related to the investigation on Oct. 29 and an eight-terabyte hard drive the following week with complete investigative files. He has yet to complete his review of the files, but he took on the case as a Friday deadline set by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to find a new prosecutor rapidly approached.

“If a replacement wasn’t found, McAfee would have dismissed the case,” the prosecutor wrote.

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President Donald Trump and several co-defendants were charged with racketeering for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

“The public has a legitimate interest in the outcome of this case,” Slandalakis said in a Friday release. “Accordingly, it is important that someone make an informed and transparent determination about how best to proceed. Given my prior familiarity with portions of the case file, including my earlier involvement in the related matter involving Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, I made the decision to assign the case to myself.”

That is likely in reference to his decision in 2024 not to charge Jones, then a senator and now a candidate for governor, in Trump’s case.

The charges, filed in 2023 under Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, originate from a sweeping investigation by Willis’ office, according to The Associated Press. The charges reflected allegations the group participated in a conspiracy to overturn Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in Georgia.

Lawyer John Charles Eastman, who is charged in the case, wrote on X that he hoped Skandalakis would “do the right thing and dismiss this travesty.” 

Fifteen people charged with racketeering

According to Fulton County Superior Court records, Willis charged Trump and 14 co-defendants with racketeering and a number of other crimes. 

Those charged included:

• Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
• Lawyer John Charles Eastman.
• Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
• Office of Management and Budget acting administrator Jeffrey Clark.
• Lawyer Ray Stallings Smith III.
• Lawyer Robert David Cheeley.
• Former Trump 2020 campaign official Michael A. Roman.
• Georgia Republican Party Emeritus Chair David James Shaker.
• Republican Georgia State Sen. Shawn Micah Tresher Still.
• Pastor Stephen Ciffgard Lee.
• Former Trump 2020 campaign staffer Harrison William Prescott Floyd.
• Publicist Tevian Kutti.
• Political activist Cathleen Alston Latham.
• Former Coffee County, Georgia, Election Supervisor Misty Hampton.

McAfee quashed charges Friday for criminal attempt to commit filing false documents, conspiracy of such and filing false documents from the defendants, according to court documents.

Trump issued pardons for all 14 co-defendants and other associates on Nov. 9 to wipe their criminal records free of offenses relating to the 2020 election. But his pardon is only effective for federal charges. 

They all remained charged in Georgia. State law does not allow governors to issue pardons, and Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, is not involved in the case.