Donald Trump's 2020 election-interference case thrown out by Georgia judge
The last criminial case the US President faced has been dropped.
President Donald Trump will not face action for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden after a judge dropped the case.
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Georgia prosecutor Pete Skandalakis filed a motion to dismiss the election interference case on Wednesday - meaning all remaining charges Mr Trump faced over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 result have been scrapped.
Mr Skandalakis wrote: “Given the complexity of the legal issues at hand — ranging from constitutional questions and the Supremacy Clause to immunity, jurisdiction, venue, speedy-trial concerns, and access to federal records — and even assuming each of these issues were resolved in the State’s favor, bringing this case before a jury in 2029, 2030, or even 2031 would be nothing short of a remarkable feat.”
He added: "I recognise that, given the deep political divisions in our country, this decision will not be universally popular.”
Mr Skandalakis, the executive director of the nonpartisan agency Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, appointed himself to the case after replacing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who was disqualified after she was accused of “impropriety”earlier this year.
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Mr Trump and a number of his allies were charged over their alleged efforts to overturn 2020’s election results in Georgia.
It came after he was heard on a tape recording asking Georgia’s election chief to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state, suggesting in a telephone call that the official “find” enough votes to hand Mr Trump the victory.
The phone call with secretary of state Brad Raffensperger marked an unprecedented effort by a sitting American president to reverse the outcome of a free and fair election that he lost.
Mr Trump, who refused to accept his loss to Mr Biden, repeatedly argued that Mr Raffensperger could change the certified results.
“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Mr Trump was heard on tape saying.
“Because we won the state.”
The election interference case was one of four criminal prosecutions Mr Trump faced in the years since losing his 2020 presidential re-election bid.
Only one, a New York case over a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, went to trial.
He was found guilty but has asked for the case to be dropped.