Charges against Donald Trump in Georgia election interference case dismissed

Charges against Donald Trump and others in an election interference case in the US state of Georgia have been dismissed.

Pete Skandalakis, the prosecutor who recently took over the case, said in court papers on Wednesday that he has decided to take no further action.

It was unlikely the legal action against the US president could have progressed while he was still in office, but the 14 others – including Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, and ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows – had still faced charges.

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The case was dismissed in full by Fulton County Superior Court judge Scott McAfee after Mr Skandalakis submitted his decision.

Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis had alleged a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally overturn Mr Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the key swing state in the 2020 presidential election.

Charges against Mr Trump centred around a phone call he made to Georgia’s top election official, secretary of state Brad Raffensperger.

According to recordings of the conversation, Mr Trump told his fellow Republican: “I just want to find 11,780 votes.”

Mr Trump and 18 co-defendants were initially accused.

Four of the accused made plea deals with prosecutors, while the others, including Mr Trump, Mr Giuliani and Mr Meadows, pleaded not guilty.

An angry-looking Mr Trump was pictured as he was booked on the charges at the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, and copies of the mugshot generated sales of more than $7m (£5.3m) in a matter of days, his campaign said.

In a 22-page memo explaining his decision, Mr Skandalakis noted the entire case is “without precedent”, and pointed in part to the challenges of trying a case against a sitting president.

Mr Skandalakis wrote: “In my professional opinion, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to 10 years.”

He said he was ending the case “to serve the interests of justice and promote judicial finality” and his decision is “not guided by a desire to advance an agenda but is based on my beliefs and understanding of the law”.

Mr Trump’s lawyer in the case, Steve Sadow, welcomed the end of what he called a “political persecution” of the US president.

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“This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare,” he said.

Ms Willis, who brought the case in August 2023, was disqualified from prosecuting it last December.

An appeals court in the state capital, Atlanta, ruled that a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she chose to lead the case, created “a significant appearance of impropriety”.

Defence lawyers claimed the district attorney profited from the case when Mr Wade used his earnings to pay for holidays the pair took.

She appealed the verdict, but lost her case in September, despite Mr Wade having quit his role.