ATLANTA (AP) — A longtime prosecutor announced he will take over the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others, after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was removed from the case and no one else wanted the job.
The nonpartisan Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia was tasked with replacing Willis after she was disqualified over an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she’d chosen to lead the case. The organization’s executive director, Pete Skandalakis, said Friday that he would take the case on himself.
“Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment,” Skandalakis said in an emailed statement.
Legal action against Trump is unlikely to proceed while he is president. However, 14 other defendants still face charges, among them former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani as well as former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Trump earlier this week announced pardons for people accused of backing his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election — including those charged in Georgia — but Skandalakis has said that has no bearing on these state charges.