Left: FILE – Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis poses for a portrait, April 19, 2023, in Atlanta (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File). Right: Former President Donald Trump arrives at the Moms for Liberty meeting in Philadelphia, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Fulton County DA Fani Willis pleaded for someone to have the "courage" to clean up the mess that was her disqualification from the 2020 election RICO case against President Donald Trump and his allies, but she may not have gotten what she hoped for — even as a new prosecutor appointed himself just in time.
Hours before a noon deadline on Friday, one set by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee for the state to come up with a new prosecutor, Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia Executive Director Peter Skandalakis appointed himself as "District Attorney Pro Tempore."
Lawfare's Anna Bower swiftly reported Skandalakis' statement, in which he noted that "several prosecutors" wanted no part of the zombie state RICO case against Trump and recent federal pardon recipients Mike Roman, David Shafer, Robert Cheeley, Mark Meadows, Cathleen Latham, Rudy Giuliani, Jeffrey Clark, and Harrison Floyd.
"The filing of this appointment reflects my inability to secure another conflict prosecutor to assume responsibility for this case. Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment," Skandalakis said. "Out of respect for their privacy and professional discretion, I will not identify those prosecutors or disclose their reasons for declining."
Instead, Skandalakis said, he appointed himself "only after careful and deliberate consideration" that it would not have been the "right course of action" to simply let the deadline pass or to tell Judge McAfee "no conflict prosecutor could be secured."
That, he added, would have meant the dismissal of the case for "want of prosecution."
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Does this mean that the case will move forward? Skandalakis' own words and past actions suggest that is no given — a far cry from the act of "courage" and "justice" Willis, a Democrat, called for on Thursday in a WSB-TV interview.
According to the Georgia Recorder, Skandalakis additionally said that he intends to undertake and "complete a comprehensive review and make an informed decision regarding how best to proceed."
Notably, Skandalakis made news just over a year ago when, in a special prosecutor capacity, he declined to bring fake elector charges against Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Republican, following a "review of the evidence."
In a comment to Law&Crime, lead Trump defense attorney Steve Sadow expressed confidence that dismissal is on the horizon for his client.
Celebrating the "end" of Willis' "politically charged prosecution," Sadow said, "we remain confident that a fair and impartial review will lead to a dismissal of the case against President Trump."
Willis' fate was sealed in September, when the Georgia Supreme Court declined to review and reverse her disqualification from the case.
In December 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals had ruled in a 2-1 decision that Judge McAfee made a mistake when he gave Willis and her handpicked special prosecutor Nathan Wade, with whom she had a romantic relationship, an ultimatum that one or the other had to go due to a "significant appearance of impropriety."
Rather, the appeals court said, McAfee "erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office" because this was a "rare case" where the "significant appearance of impropriety" alone meant Willis and her office should be "wholly disqualified."