Washington: A Georgia judge has formally dismissed the extensive 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump, bringing an end to the last active attempt to legally challenge his efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
The move came after Special Prosecutor Peter Skandalakis appointed following the removal of the original prosecutor urged Judge Scott McAfee on Wednesday to drop all remaining charges.
Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow welcomed the development, calling it the conclusion of a long-running “political witch hunt” targeting the former president.
With this dismissal, all four criminal cases against Trump have now reached a definitive end. Only one case ever made it to trial, ultimately resulting in a conviction.
The case unraveled earlier when the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, ruling that her relationship with a special prosecutor had created an unacceptable “appearance of impropriety.”
Following her disqualification, Skandalakis head of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia stepped in after other state prosecutors declined to take responsibility for the politically sensitive case.
In his filing on Wednesday, Skandalakis said the case was being ended “to uphold justice and ensure finality,” stressing that his decision stemmed from legal judgment rather than political motives.
Nearly five million Georgians voted in the 2020 presidential election, with Biden winning the state by fewer than 12,000 votes. Trump and several allies disputed the outcome, making Georgia a central battleground in their bid to overturn the result.
A major turning point came in January 2021, when The Washington Post released a recording of Trump pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes… because we won the state,” Trump urged in the call.
Willis launched her probe shortly afterward, forming a special grand jury and in August 2023 charging Trump and 18 others with racketeering and related offences. The indictment alleged a coordinated effort to illegally change the state’s election outcome.
Several defendants including attorneys Sidney Powell, Kenneth Cheseboro, and Jenna Ellis accepted plea deals involving fines, probation and community service.
The court’s dismissal also wipes out charges for remaining defendants such as Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former lawyer, and Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff.
Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney, hailed the ruling as long overdue.
“The baseless political attacks orchestrated by disqualified DA Fani Willis have finally been halted,” he said.
This case was once seen as Trump’s most serious legal threat because state-level charges cannot be pardoned by a sitting president. Though the U.S. Supreme Court granted Trump sweeping immunity for federal actions deemed “official,” those protections did not extend to state prosecutions.
Trump was booked at the Fulton County Jail as part of the case, producing the widely circulated mugshot.
Many legal scholars had predicted the case’s collapse. Several charges were already dismissed in 2024, and Willis’ removal cast doubt on whether a successor would have resources or political appetite to continue.
Trump’s return to the presidency also effectively paused the case until his term concludes in 2029.
Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, said pursuing the case was increasingly unrealistic.
“The sheer financial and manpower burden of such a complex prosecution made it unlikely Skandalakis would carry it forward,” he noted.
However, Kreis expressed some surprise at the tone of Skandalakis’ rationale.
“The report seems unusually generous toward the president and some associates, considering the evidence that had been presented,” he said.