The executive director of Georgia’s Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council announced Friday that he will personally take over the state’s election interference prosecution involving President Donald Trump and more than a dozen others, following the removal of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
According to The Associated Press, Pete Skandalakis, who leads the nonpartisan organization, said he stepped in only after efforts to find another outside prosecutor failed.
“The filing of this appointment reflects my inability to secure another conflict prosecutor to assume responsibility for this case,” Skandalakis said in an emailed statement. “Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment.”
Willis was disqualified earlier this year after courts ruled that her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade — the special prosecutor she hired to lead the case — created an “appearance of impropriety.” Wade ultimately resigned, but the Georgia Court of Appeals later removed Willis entirely.
The state Supreme Court declined to revive her appeal, leaving the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council to appoint a new leader for the case.
While any prosecution of Trump would almost certainly be paused while he remains in office, 14 co-defendants — including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani — still face state charges.
Trump recently announced pardons for people accused of aiding his effort to overturn the 2020 election results, including those charged in Georgia, but those pardons do not apply to state-level cases.
The sprawling indictment, handed down in August 2023, used Georgia’s anti-racketeering law to allege a coordinated effort to illegally reverse Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
The legal battle over Willis’ role consumed much of 2024. Defense attorneys revealed in January that Willis had entered into a romantic relationship with Wade.
They argued the relationship created a financial conflict of interest because Wade allegedly paid for joint vacations using money earned from the case.
Both Willis and Wade testified in a February hearing, detailing personal aspects of their relationship while insisting it began only after Wade’s hiring and that they shared travel expenses.
Judge Scott McAfee criticized Willis for a “tremendous lapse in judgment” but initially allowed her to stay on the case if Wade resigned. Defense attorneys appealed, and the Georgia Court of Appeals later removed Willis, citing the appearance of impropriety.
With Willis gone, Skandalakis now holds the authority to continue the prosecution as planned, narrow the charges, or dismiss the case entirely.
“While it would have been simple to allow Judge McAfee’s deadline to lapse or to inform the Court that no conflict prosecutor could be secured — thereby allowing the case to be dismissed for want of prosecution — I did not believe that to be the right course of action,” he wrote. “The public has a legitimate interest in the outcome of this case. Accordingly, it is important that someone make an informed and transparent determination about how best to proceed.”
