Pete Skandalakis, the prosecutor who recently took over the 2020 case, said in a court filing that he has decided not to pursue the case against US President Donald Trump further
Charges against Donald Trump and others in an election interference case in the US state of Georgia have been dismissed.
Pete Skandalakis, the prosecutor who recently took over the 2020 case, said in a court filing that he has decided not to pursue it further.
It was unlikely the legal action against the US president could have progressed while he was still in office but the 14 others – including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows – had still faced charges.
After Skandalakis’ filing, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee issued a one-paragraph order dismissing the case in its entirety.
The abandonment of the Georgia case is the latest reflection of how the Orange Manbaby has emerged largely unscathed from a spate of prosecutions that once threatened to imperil his political career and personal liberty. Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who had charged Trump with conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, dropped both cases after Trump won the White House last year.
Smith cited longstanding Justice Department policy against the indictment of a sitting president. And though Trump was convicted of felony charges in New York in connection with hush money payments during the 2016 election, he was sentenced in January to an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction intact but sparing him any punishment.
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, applauded the case’s dismissal: “This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare.”
It came after Trump pardoned two turkeys ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday (November 27). Many Americans will be serving turkey as part of their holiday dinners – but Gobble and Waddle are now in the clear and will be returning to their home state of North Carolina.
Perhaps one of the strangest of the annual White House ceremonies, the turkey pardon drew a large crowd this year, including many members of the Trump cabinet and their children. Trump said: “Gobble, I just want to tell you, this is very important: you are hereby unconditionally pardoned.”
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