A Georgia judge has dismissed the criminal case against President Trump stemming from his efforts to overturn his 2020 loss in the state to President Joseph R. Biden, closing a two-year saga.
Judge Scott McAfee agreed to end the prosecution after a newly appointed district attorney, Peter J. Skandalakis, declined to prosecute the case.
Mr. Skandalakis had taken over for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was disqualified after Mr. Trump’s team raised questions about her romantic relationship with a lead investigator on the case.
“The political persecution of President Trump by disqualified DA Fani Willis is finally over,” Mr. Trump’s attorney, Steve Sadow, said. “This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare.”
Ms. Willis sought and obtained a racketeering indictment against Mr. Trump and over a dozen co-defendants after Mr. Trump appeared to lean on Georgia officials to find enough votes to overturn his upset defeat to Mr. Biden in the Southern state.
The dismissal is a major development in the array of criminal cases that Democratic prosecutors brought against Mr. Trump in recent years.
Mr. Trump, upon his election last year to a second term, quashed two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith related to the 2020 election and sensitive records that the president stored at his Florida estate.
A New York case over hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election ended in Mr. Trump’s conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The president is appealing the verdict.
At one time, the Georgia case against Mr. Trump seemed like one of the strongest. Ms. Willis secured early plea deals from multiple co-defendants.
Yet the case hit an unexpected speed bump with revelations that Ms. Willis had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a paid investigator on the case.
The defense argued that it posed an impermissible financial conflict because the pair enjoyed meals and trips together, though Ms. Willis said she paid her own way.
Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade testified they didn’t start seeing each other until after his hiring, though some witnesses disputed that timeline.
Judge McAfee let Ms. Willis stay on the case, provided Mr. Wade departed. But attorneys for Mr. Trump and his co-defendants successfully appealed.
“After carefully considering the trial court’s findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office,” a panel of three GOP-appointed judges wrote in December.
Mr. Skandalakis took over the case this month and decided not to move forward.
