US judge dismisses Trump election interference case

Summary

• Georgia judge dismissed Trump's election interference case after the prosecutor cited jurisdictional issues and the unlikelihood of prosecuting a sitting president.
• Prosecutor Skandalakis noted a similar federal investigation was dropped and continuing the case would be unproductive, citing time and unresolved legal issues.
• Fani Willis was disqualified due to an "appearance of impropriety" and Trump previously pardoned allies for federal crimes, but not state offenses in Georgia.

WASHINGTON - A judge on Nov 26 dismissed the long-running case accusing US President Donald Trump and several associates of attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in the southern state of Georgia.

The ruling came after prosecutor Pete Skandalakis urged Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee to end the case, arguing it falls under federal, not state, jurisdiction – marking the collapse of the last of several criminal prosecutions targeting Mr Trump
before he returned to office in January.

The prosecutor referred in the 23-page filing to a federal investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who withdrew his own charges in late 2024
after Mr Trump’s reelection.

“Indeed, 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 of all those involved in State of Georgia versus Donald Trump, et al. on essentially federal grounds would be equally unproductive,” Mr Skandalakis wrote.

Mr Skandalakis also pointed out that prosecuting a sitting president in Georgia is nearly impossible and that without Mr Trump, the trial would be unworkable for the remaining 14 defendants.

Judge McAfee immediately granted the motion to dismiss the case.

Mr Trump and 18 codefendants were charged with racketeering and other offences
in Georgia in 2023 over their alleged efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election in the southern state.

The indictment alleged efforts to persuade state officials to “find” votes to reverse Mr Trump’s narrow loss to Mr Joe Biden, pressure election workers, and install false Trump electors.

Four of those indicted subsequently admitted lesser charges.

A Georgia appeals court in December disqualified Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis
from the case, citing the “impropriety” of an intimate relationship she had with the man she had hired to be a special prosecutor.

Mr Trump has granted pardons to several allies accused of attempting to subvert the 2020 election, but the pardons only apply to federal crimes, not state offences such as those in Georgia.

‘On life support’

Among those who received clemency were former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Mr Trump’s former chief of staff, Mr Mark Meadows, both of whom faced charges in Georgia.

Mr Trump also faced two federal cases but they were dropped by Special Counsel Jack Smith after the November 2024 election under the Justice Department policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president.

Mr Trump was accused of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results and of removing large quantities of top-secret documents after leaving the White House, but neither case came to trial.

Mr Skandalakis argued that continuing the Georgia case “in full for another five to 10 years” would not serve the state’s voters, saying that the time it would take, combined with unresolved issues like federal versus state jurisdiction and presidential immunity, meant the case was effectively “on life support.”

“As a former elected official who ran as both a Democrat and a Republican... this decision is not guided by a desire to advance an agenda but is based on my beliefs and understanding of the law,” he said.

Ms Willis was removed from the case in late 2024 after Georgia’s appeals court ruled her romantic involvement with special prosecutor Nathan Wade
created an “appearance of impropriety.”

She had indicted Mr Trump in August 2023, charging him and his co-defendants under Georgia’s racketeering laws.

Mr Trump’s lawyers maintained that his statements about the election were simply political speech, protected by the First Amendment. AFP