Longtime Prosecutor Takes Over Trump’s Georgia Election Case After Willis Removal

Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, announced Friday he will personally handle the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and 14 other defendants after finding no other prosecutors willing to take on the high-profile matter.

The case was left in limbo after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified over a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she had appointed to lead the prosecution. The Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis in December 2024, citing an “appearance of impropriety,” and the state Supreme Court later declined to hear her appeal.

“Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment,” Skandalakis said in a statement. Rather than allowing the case to be dismissed by default, he opted to take responsibility himself, noting, “The public has a legitimate interest in the outcome of this case.”

Skandalakis, who previously served about 25 years as the elected Republican district attorney for the Coweta Judicial Circuit southwest of Atlanta, will receive no additional compensation for handling the case, though Fulton County will reimburse expenses.

The indictment, announced in August 2023, alleges a broad conspiracy by Trump and his allies to illegally overturn his narrow loss to Joe Biden in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election. The case employs Georgia’s anti-racketeering law to tie together numerous alleged acts by the defendants.

While legal proceedings against Trump himself are unlikely to advance during his presidency, the case continues against other high-profile defendants, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Despite Trump’s recent announcements of pardons for people involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Skandalakis has indicated these federal pardons do not affect the state-level charges in Georgia.

Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, expressed confidence that a “fair and impartial review” would result in dismissal of the charges against his client. “This politically charged prosecution has to come to an end,” Sadow stated.

Meanwhile, Allyn Stockton, who represents Giuliani, called Skandalakis’ decision an “interesting twist” but added that everything he knows about Skandalakis suggests he is “a fair minded and honorable man who is void of any political agenda.”

The case’s transfer to Skandalakis marks the latest development in a legal saga marked by extraordinary twists. Willis’ removal came after defense attorneys revealed her relationship with Wade in January 2024, alleging she had profited from the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations they took together.

During a subsequent hearing that captivated national attention, Willis and Wade testified about intimate details of their relationship, claiming the romance began only after Wade’s hiring and that they split costs for their personal outings. Judge Scott McAfee initially allowed Willis to remain on the case if Wade resigned, which he promptly did. However, defense attorneys appealed, leading to Willis’ eventual removal.

Skandalakis now faces the substantial task of reviewing the case materials, which include 101 boxes of documents delivered on October 29 and an eight-terabyte hard drive containing the full investigative file provided on November 6. He has several options: continue with Willis’ prosecution strategy, pursue only some charges, or dismiss the case entirely.

This isn’t Skandalakis’ first involvement with the broader investigation. Earlier, when Willis was barred from pursuing charges against Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones—one of 16 state Republicans who signed a certificate falsely claiming Trump had won Georgia—Skandalakis was appointed to handle that matter. He ultimately decided not to bring charges against Jones.

The Fulton County case represents one of the most significant legal challenges to emerge from the aftermath of the 2020 election, though its future now depends on Skandalakis’ forthcoming evaluation of the evidence and legal merits.