Georgia prosecutor drops election interference case against Donald Trump

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on Air Force One from Joint Base Andrews to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A judge on Wednesday agreed to dismiss charges against US President Donald Trump and his allies for allegedly trying to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat in Georgia.
Prosecutor Peter Skandalakis had asked for a dismissal of the 39 charges, including racketeering, against Trump and a group of aides, saying prosecuting the case would be “unproductive.”

What prosecutor said

“In my professional judgment, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years,” Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, who took over the case after the original prosecutor was disqualified from the case, wrote.

“I recognize that, given the deep political divisions in our country, this decision will not be universally popular,” Skandalakis, who earlier this month replaced Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, wrote.

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Steve Sadow, a lawyer for Trump, praised the dismissal, saying the case should have never been brought.

Cases against Trump

The case was one of four criminal prosecutions that Trump faced in the years since losing his 2020 presidential re-election bid to Democrat Joe Biden.

Just one — a New York case over a hush money payment to a porn star during his 2016 campaign — went to trial. He was found guilty in the New York case but has asked for the case to be thrown out.