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The special prosecutor in Georgia has dropped the state's sprawling 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his remaining co-defendants. The decision, announced Tuesday by prosecutor Pete Skandalakis, effectively ends one of the most significant legal challenges Trump faced following the 2020 election.
Skandalakis, who was appointed to lead the case after his predecessor was disqualified, cited significant legal and practical obstacles to moving forward. In a statement, he pointed to the "unavailability of key witnesses, evidentiary problems, and the passage of time" as primary reasons for the dismissal. He concluded that the state no longer had a reasonable probability of securing a conviction against Trump or the other eight defendants. The move brings an end to the Georgia 2020 election interference probe that had been ongoing for years.
The case was originally brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who secured a wide-ranging racketeering (RICO) indictment against Trump and 18 allies. However, Willis was removed from the case by a Georgia appeals court in August 2025 due to a conflict of interest stemming from a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor she had hired. The disqualification of Fani Willis led to the appointment of Skandalakis, the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, who was tasked with reassessing the prosecution's viability.
While the charges against Trump and the remaining defendants have been dropped, Skandalakis confirmed that the plea deals secured by Willis from four other defendants—including former Trump attorneys Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Jenna Ellis—will stand. The dismissal marks a major legal victory for Trump, who has consistently decried the investigation as a politically motivated "witch hunt."
This final decision follows earlier signs of weakness in the prosecution's case. Just weeks prior, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee had dismissed three of the original charges against Trump, arguing they fell outside the state's legal jurisdiction. The complete dismissal by the new prosecutor now formally closes this chapter, leaving the plea agreements as the only remaining legal consequence of the original Fulton County indictment.
