ADDS TRUMP'S REACTION, CHANGES DECK
By Iclal Turan and Yasin Gungor
WASHINGTON/ISTANBUL (AA) - Prosecutors in the state of Georgia dropped criminal charges Wednesday against US President Donald Trump and several allies for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
In a motion filed in Fulton County Superior Court, Pete Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, said he was seeking a nolle prosequi “to serve the interests of justice and promote judicial finality.”
Skandalakis, who took over the case last month after courts barred Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from continuing, said in his 23-page motion that the prosecution was flawed and impractical to pursue.
Trump welcomed the decision as a victory for "law and justice" in Georgia.
He called the charges an attempt to “get Trump” and an “illegal, unconstitutional, and un-American hoax,” accusing former President Joe Biden and his “handlers” of directing the case.
The case stemmed from a leaked January 2021 call in which Trump pressed Georgia’s then-Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss.
A grand jury indicted Trump and others in August 2023, but the prosecution faltered amid romantic allegations involving Willis and a special prosecutor in the case.
Trump’s lead attorney Steve Sadow welcomed the decision, calling it an end to the “political persecution” of the president.
A Georgia judge dismissed the case in its entirety Wednesday.