乔治亚州的富尔顿县，选举干预案在接手此案的检察官要求撤销后，针对唐纳德·特朗普总统和其他人的指控被驳回。
“根据我的专业判断，在接下来的5到10年里，全力追查这个案子对格鲁吉亚公民没有好处，”佐治亚州检察官委员会执行主任皮特·斯坎达拉基斯(Pete Skandalakis)写道，他是在原检察官被取消资格后接手这个案子的。
在Skandalakis向法院提交文件的几分钟内，负责此案的法官批准了这一请求，并驳回了此案。
富尔顿县法官斯科特·麦卡菲(Scott McAfee)写道:“本案特此被完全驳回，”他本月早些时候计划在12月1日就此案举行“状态/预审”听证会。
特朗普和其他18人不服罪在2023年8月对所有指控进行一次全面的敲诈勒索起诉涉嫌试图推翻佐治亚州2020年总统选举的结果。
这些指控是由富尔顿县地方检察官范尼·威利斯提出的，此前特朗普在2021年1月2日的电话中要求佐治亚州国务卿布拉德·拉芬斯佩格“找到”选票需要赢得该州，指控被告在全国范围内招揽州领导人，骚扰和误导佐治亚州的一名选举工作人员，并谎称选举被盗，所有这些都是为了让特朗普在选举失败后继续掌权。
特朗普和其他被告向当局自首特朗普在亚特兰大的富尔顿县监狱在交了20万美元的保释金后被释放脸部照片在第一次为前美国总统。
被告西德尼·鲍威尔、詹娜·埃利斯、肯尼斯·切塞布罗和斯科特·霍尔后来接受认罪协议交换条件是同意指证其他被告。
威利斯随后被取消此案的审理资格在她被指控与一名检察官同事关系不正当后，佐治亚州律师委员会指派一名独立检察官接手此案并决定其命运。
斯坎达拉基斯接手了这个案子本月早些时候，他说他“无法”找到其他人接受这份工作。
特朗普在其社交媒体平台上庆祝该案被驳回，抨击检方并写道，“剩下的几个民主党政治迫害很快就会遭遇同样尴尬的结局。我们将继续胜利，继续让美国再次伟大!”
特朗普的律师史蒂夫·萨多(Steve Sadow)在一份声明中表示，“被取消资格的达法尼·威利斯(DA Fani Willis)对特朗普总统的政治迫害终于结束了。这个案子本来就不该被提起。一个公平公正的检察官结束了这种法律诉讼。”
前纽约市长鲁迪·朱利安尼的发言人被取消律师执业资格纽约和哥伦比亚特区对他与2020年选举有关的努力表示赞赏。
朱利安尼的发言人特德·古德曼在一份声明中说:“撤销对鲁迪·朱利安尼市长的所有刑事指控的决定早就应该做出，它代表着对党派演员用来证明他不当剥夺律师资格的明显错误的说法的彻底否定。”。
被告约翰·伊士曼是特朗普的前律师，他告诉美国广播公司新闻，“本来就不应该提起诉讼。”
“我很高兴替代检察官认识到，挑战选举中的非法行为不是犯罪，”伊士曼说。
周三的解雇标志着特朗普在2020年大选后面临的两起重大选举干预案件的结束。
在当时的特别顾问杰克·史密斯进行了为期八个月的调查后不服罪2023年8月，被指控通过招募一批所谓的“假选举人”，利用司法部进行“虚假的选举犯罪调查”，试图招募副总统“改变选举结果”，并在1月6日暴乱肆虐时宣传虚假的选举舞弊，从而实施“犯罪计划”，推翻2020年选举的结果。
去年特朗普连任总统后，该案在不带偏见地驳回因为司法部的长期政策禁止起诉在任总统。
在一份长达22页的文件中，斯坎达拉基斯解释了他放弃富尔顿县案件的决定，他写道，这些指控和案件理论“不是起诉的可行依据”，并指出继续专门针对特朗普的案件的时间和后勤困难。
他承认案件的严重性，写道，起诉书，如果被证实，“将建立一个由多个个人进行的阴谋。...推翻2020年11月总统大选的结果，”但他表示，对特朗普提起刑事诉讼是不可行的。
他写道，“在任总统被迫出现在格鲁吉亚，就起诉书中的指控接受审判，这是不现实的。”。“即使在某些特殊情况下，[特朗普]将于2029年1月21日——他任期结束后的第二天——出现在佐治亚州，立即进行陪审团审判也是不可能的。”
关于针对特朗普的案件的具体细节，斯坎达拉基斯写道，“安排电话，发表公开声明，在推特上向公众发布消息，观看佐治亚州参议院小组委员会的听证会，给某人发短信参加这些听证会，或者在没有提供对话背景的情况下回答63分钟的电话，这只是几个例子，我认为这些行为不足以维持一个RICO案件，”指的是特朗普面临的敲诈指控。
斯坎达拉基斯写道，他考虑过将特朗普与他的共同被告分开，但得出的结论是，这样的举动将是“徒劳和徒劳的”。
他还总结说，这个案子应该由联邦政府来处理，而不是在富尔顿县法庭上。
“亚特兰大司法巡回法庭起诉中指控的犯罪行为是在华盛顿特区构思的，而不是在佐治亚州。联邦政府才是起诉的合适场所，而不是佐治亚州，”他写道。
斯坎达拉基斯还概述了他认为检方案件理论中的缺陷，包括被指控的共和党选举人缺乏犯罪意图，以及对前特朗普幕僚长马克·梅多斯(Mark Meadows)和前DOJ官员杰弗里·克拉克(Jeffrey Clark)的指控“不符合维持刑事定罪所需的合理怀疑以外的更严格的证据标准”
在结束他的解释时，斯坎达拉基斯承认他的决定会遭到反对，但他说他仍然必须做出决定。
“检察官的作用不是满足公众舆论或获得普遍认可;这一目标既无法实现，也与适当行使起诉裁量权无关。他写道:“我对这个案件的评估完全以证据、法律和正义原则为指导。”。
Georgia prosecutor drops election interference case against Trump, others
The Fulton County, Georgia,election interference caseagainst President Donald Trump and others has been dismissed after the prosecutor who took over the case requested that it be dropped.
"In my professional judgment, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years," wrote Pete 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.
Within minutes of Skandalakis' court filing, the judge overseeing the case granted the request and dismissed the case.
"This case is hereby dismissed in its entirety," wrote Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee, who earlier this month had scheduled a Dec. 1 "status/pretrial" hearing in the case.
Trump and18 otherspleaded not guiltyin August 2023 to all charges in asweeping racketeering indictmentfor alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
The charges, which were brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis following Trump's Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which he asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to"find" the votesneeded to win the state, allege that the defendants solicited state leaders throughout the country, harassed and misled a Georgia election worker, and pushed phony claims that the election was stolen, all in an effort for Trump to remain in power despite his election loss.
Trump and the other defendantssurrendered to authoritiesat Atlanta's Fulton County Jail, where Trump wasreleased on a $200,000 bond after having hismug shot takenin a first for a formerU.S. president.
Defendants Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro andScott Hall latertook plea dealsin exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
Willis was subsequentlydisqualified from the casefollowing accusations of impropriety regarding her relationship with a fellow prosecutor, leaving a council of Georgia attorneys to assign an independent prosecutor to take over the case and determine its fate.
Skandalakistook over the casehimself earlier this month after he said he was "unable" to find someone else to accept the job.
Trump celebrated the dismissal of the case on his social media platform, slamming the prosecution and writing, "The few remaining Democrat Witch Hunts will soon meet the same embarrassing end. We are going to keep winning, and continue to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
In a statement, Trump attorney Steve Sadow said, "The political persecution of President Trump by disqualified DA Fani Willis is finally over. This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare."
A spokesperson for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who wasdisbarred from practicing lawin New York and the District of Columbia over his efforts related to the 2020 election, lauded the dismissal.
"The decision to dismiss all criminal charges against Mayor Rudy Giuliani is long overdue and represents a complete repudiation of the demonstrably false claims that partisan actors used to justify his improper disbarment," Giuliani spokesperson Ted Goodman said in a statement.
Defendant John Eastman, a former Trump attorney, told ABC News the lawsuit "should have never been brought."
"I’m delighted that the replacement prosecutor recognized that challenging illegality in an election is not a crime," Eastman said.
Wednesday's dismissal marks the end of the two major election interference cases Trump faced following the 2020 election.
Following an eight-month investigation by then-special counsel Jack Smith, Trumppleaded not guiltyin August 2023 to charges of undertaking a "criminal scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called "fake electors," using the Justice Department to conduct "sham election crime investigations," trying to enlist the vice president to "alter the election results," and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged.
After Trump was reelected president last year, the case wasdismissed without prejudicedue to the Justice Department's long-standing policy barring the prosecution of a sitting president.
In a 22-page filing explaining his decision to drop the Fulton County case, Skandalakis wrote that the allegations and case theory are "not a viable basis for prosecution," and noted the timing and logistical difficulties of continuing the case specifically against Trump.
He acknowledged the seriousness of the case, writing that the indictment, if proven, "would establish a conspiracy undertaken by multiple individual. ... to overturn the results of the November 2020 Presidential Election," but said that trying a criminal case against Trump would not be feasible.
"There is no realistic prospect that a sitting President will be compelled to appear in Georgia to stand trial on the allegations in this indictment," he wrote. "And even if, by some extraordinary circumstance, [Trump] were to appear in Georgia on January 21, 2029 -- the day after his term concludes -- an immediate jury trial would be impossible."
Regarding the specifics of the case against Trump, Skandalakis wrote that "Overt acts such as arranging a phone call, issuing a public statement, tweeting to the public to watch the Georgia Senate subcommittee hearings, texting someone to attend those hearings, or answering a 63-minute phone call without providing the context of that conversation, just to name a few examples, are not acts I would consider sufficient to sustain a RICO case," referring to the racketeering charges that Trump faced.
Skandalakis wrote that he considered severing Trump from his co-defendants but concluded that such a move would be "futile and unproductive."
Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani, other key figures allegedly involved in efforts to overturn 2020 election
He also concluded that the case should have been pursued federally, not in a Fulton County courtroom.
"The criminal conduct alleged in the Atlanta Judicial Circuit's prosecution was conceived in Washington, D.C., not the State of Georgia. The federal government is the appropriate venue for this prosecution, not the State of Georgia," he wrote.
Skandalakis also outlined what he identified as flaws in the prosecution's case theory, including that the Republican electors charged lacked criminal intent and that the allegations against former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and ex-DOJ official Jeffrey Clark "fall short of the far more rigorous standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt required to sustain a criminal conviction."
In concluding his explanation, Skandalakis acknowledged that his decision would receive pushback -- but said he still had to make it.
"The role of a prosecutor is not to satisfy public opinion or achieve universal approval; such a goal is both unattainable and irrelevant to the proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion. My assessment of this case has been guided solely by the evidence, the law, and the principles of justice," he wrote.
