What to know about the 2020 Georgia election case and its new prosecutor

ATLANTA -- The destiny of the Georgia predetermination interference case against President Donald Trump and others is now successful the hands of a caller authoritative who has to determine however helium is going to determination guardant with the sprawling indictment.

After courts removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis implicit an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship with the peculiar authoritative she had chosen to pb the case, it was up to the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council to idiosyncratic to instrumentality over. Council Executive Director Pete Skandalakis said Friday that helium would grip the lawsuit himself aft helium was incapable to find anyone other consenting to bash it.

The indictment against Trump and 18 others was returned by a expansive assemblage successful August 2023 and uses the state’s anti-racketeering law to allege a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden successful Georgia.

Here are immoderate things to cognize astir Skandalakis and what mightiness travel adjacent for this prosecution.

When a authoritative recuses oregon is removed from a lawsuit successful Georgia, the enforcement manager of the nonpartisan Prosecuting Attorneys' Council steps successful to name a substitute prosecutor. Skandalakis, who has led the bureau since January 2018, said successful an e-mailed connection that helium contacted respective prosecutors astir taking implicit the predetermination interference lawsuit and they each declined.

The justice overseeing the lawsuit had said that if a caller authoritative wasn't appointed by Friday, helium would disregard the case. Skandalakis said that portion helium could easy person fto the judge's deadline walk without appointing anyone and allowed the lawsuit to beryllium dismissed, helium “did not judge that to beryllium the close people of action.”

He acknowledged that helium had not had a accidental to afloat reappraisal the case, having lone precocious received from Willis' bureau 101 boxes of documents and an eight-terabyte hard thrust with the afloat investigative file. Appointing himself to the case, helium said, “will let maine to implicit a broad reappraisal and marque an informed determination regarding however champion to proceed.”

Prior to his clip astatine the council, Skandalakis spent astir 25 years arsenic the elected Republican territory lawyer for the Coweta Judicial Circuit, southwest of Atlanta. But erstwhile Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter, who has known Skandalakis for much than 40 years, said they shared a doctrine that the territory attorney's bureau should beryllium nonpartisan.

“I wouldn’t enactment excessively overmuch value connected the information that helium ran arsenic a Republican,” Porter said. “I consciousness definite that he’s going to bash what helium said he’s going to bash and springiness it a just and transparent reappraisal and travel to conclusions based connected the instrumentality and the facts.”

Skandalakis is nary alien to delicate high-profile cases. He took connected the investigation into the June 2020 shooting death of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man, by a achromatic constabulary serviceman aft Willis recused her bureau from the case. He ultimately decided that the 2 officers progressive had acted reasonably, and helium declined to prosecute charges.

Skandalakis volition proceed to reappraisal the lawsuit record to determine however helium wants to proceed. The justice has acceptable a Dec. 1 presumption proceeding and said the prosecution should beryllium prepared to accidental astatine that clip whether it intends to question a caller indictment successful the case.

Skandalakis has declined to remark beyond the connection helium released Friday. But Porter, who has served arsenic a substitute prosecutor, said the archetypal measurement is mostly to get the lawsuit filed, which Skandalakis has done. Then, Porter said, it is not improper to person a treatment with the removed authoritative astir their summary of the case, but that should beryllium the past interaction betwixt the 2 prosecution teams astir the case.

Then the substitute authoritative would commencement from scratch, figuring retired however the lawsuit is organized, determining the fund and resources needed to grip it and figuring retired however to grip it.

The size of this lawsuit makes each that a “nearly intolerable task for 1 idiosyncratic to do,” Porter said. While Skandalakis has a “great staff” with immoderate truly talented prosecutors, they each person different cases connected their plates.

The Prosecuting Attorneys' Council has a choky budget, and the authorities legislature is dominated by Republicans, galore loyal to Trump, who are improbable to assistance immoderate peculiar appropriations for this prosecution. But Skandalakis could look for wealth elsewhere to prosecute declaration attorneys and screen different expenses, Porter said.

Then Skandalakis volition person to determine whether helium wants to proceed connected the people that Willis had charted, prosecute lone immoderate of the charges oregon disregard the case.

“I deliberation the lawsuit arsenic it's indicted is wholly untryable,” Porter said, adding that helium would effort to slim it down, either by seeking a caller indictment oregon asking the justice to sever immoderate counts to interruption it down into smaller cases, Porter said.

The indictment includes charges related to a Jan. 2, 2021, telephone call betwixt Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during which Trump urged the state’s apical elections authoritative to assistance him “find” the votes helium needed to win. Other charges person to bash with a getting a slate of Republican electors to falsely state that Trump won the state, allegations of harassment of a Georgia predetermination idiosyncratic and a breach of predetermination equipment successful a agrarian southbound Georgia county.

Four of the 19 radical charged pleaded guilty aft reaching deals with prosecutors successful the months pursuing their indictment. Trump and the different 14 radical charged person each pleaded not guilty. It seems improbable that immoderate enactment against Trump could proceed portion helium is successful office, but the others bash not person that shield.