atlanta — fate Election interference case in Georgia Against the president Donald Trump Others are Now in hands For a new prosecutor who must decide how to proceed with a sprawling indictment.
After the courts removed the Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis Because of the “indecent appearance” created by A Romantic relationship With the special prosecutor she chose to lead the case, it was up to the DPP to have someone take charge. The council’s executive director, Pete Skandalakis, said Friday he would handle the case himself after being unable to find anyone else willing to do so.
Indictment against Trump and 18 others It was returned by a grand jury in August 2023 and uses a state mandate Anti-extortion law To allege a widespread conspiracy to illegally overthrow the Trump regime Tight loss For Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia.
Here are some things to know about Skandalakis and what might come after this trial.
When a prosecutor recuses from or is removed from a case in Georgia, the Executive Director of the nonpartisan Prosecuting Council steps in to appoint a replacement prosecutor. Skandalakis, who has headed the agency since January 2018, said in an emailed statement that he had approached several prosecutors about taking on the election interference case, but they had all declined.
The judge overseeing the case had said that if a new prosecutor was not appointed by Friday, he would dismiss the case. Skandalakis said that although he could have easily let the judge’s deadline pass without appointing anyone and allowing the case to be dismissed, he “doesn’t think that’s the right course of action.”
He admitted that he had not had the opportunity to fully review the case, as he had recently received from Willis’s office 101 boxes of documents and an 8-terabyte hard drive containing the full investigation file. He said appointing himself to the case “will allow me to complete a comprehensive review and make an informed decision on how best to proceed.”
Before being on the council, Skandalakis spent about 25 years as the Republican-elected district attorney for the Coweta Judicial Circuit, southwest of Atlanta. But former Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter, who has known Skandalakis for more than 40 years, said they shared a philosophy that the district attorney’s office should be nonpartisan.
“I wouldn’t attach much importance to the fact that he ran as a Republican,” Porter said. He added: “I am sure he will do what he said he will do and will conduct a fair and transparent review and reach conclusions based on the law and the facts.”
Skandalakis is no stranger to high-profile sensitive issues. he He took over the investigation in June 2020 shooting incident Rayshard Brooks, a black man, was killed by a white police officer after Willis recused her office from the case. he I finally decided The two officers involved acted reasonably and declined to pursue charges.
Skandalakis will continue to review the case file to decide how he wants to proceed. The judge set a hearing for December 1 and said prosecutors should be prepared to say at that time whether they intend to seek a new indictment in the case.
Skandalakis declined to comment beyond the statement he issued on Friday. But Porter, who served as a substitute prosecutor, said the first step is generally to file the case, which Skandalakis did. After that, Porter said, it is not inappropriate to have a discussion with the deposed prosecutor about the case summary, but this should be the final communication between the two prosecution teams about the case.
The substitute prosecutor then starts from scratch, figuring out how to structure the case, determining the budget and resources needed to handle it, and figuring out how to handle it.
The scale of this case makes it all “an almost impossible task for one person to do,” Porter said. While Skandalakis has a “great team” with some really talented prosecutors, they all have other cases on their plates.
The state legislature is dominated by Republicans, many of whom are loyal to Trump, and are unlikely to make any special appropriations for this prosecution. Porter said Skandalakis may look for money elsewhere to hire a contract attorney and cover other expenses.
Skandalakis will then have to decide whether he wants to continue on the path set by Willis, pursue only some charges or dismiss the case.
“I think the case as charged is completely unprosecutable,” Porter said, adding that he would try to narrow it down, either by seeking a new indictment or asking the judge to separate some of the charges to divide them into smaller cases, Porter said.
The indictment includes charges related to A January 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, during which Trump urged the state’s top elections official to help him “find” the votes he needs to win. Other fees have to do with obtaining List of Republican voters To falsely declare Trump won the state, and allegations of harassment of an election worker in Georgia and Breach of electoral equipment In a rural county in southern Georgia.
Four of the 19 people were charged plead guilty After reaching deals with prosecutors in the months after they were indicted. Trump and the 14 other accused have pleaded not guilty. It seems unlikely that any action against Trump will last while he is in office, but others do not have that shield.