ATLANTA (AP) — A special prosecutor has decided not to file charges against Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election in the state.
Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, announced Friday that he had decided not to send the case to a grand jury. Skandalakis appointed himself to the case in April, nearly two years after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was barred from prosecuting Jones as part of her election interference case against former Trump and others.
Jones was one of 16 Republicans from the state who gathered at the Georgia Capitol in December 2020 to sign a certificate declaring Trump won Georgia and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors, even though Democrat Joe Biden had been declared the state’s winner.
Jones, then a senator, signed a call for a special session of the Georgia Legislature aimed at overturning Biden’s narrow victory in the state. He joined 26 other Georgia state lawmakers in a court brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a request by Texas to overturn the election results in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Jones also flew to Washington on January 5, 2021, and had dinner with Vice President Mike Pence. Jones carried a letter from another lawmaker asking Pence to delay the counting of the Electoral College votes. However, Jones has said he decided not to give the letter to Pence because he concluded that Pence was not open to the argument.
After Willis Jones let it be known in the summer of 2022 that he was the target of her investigation into possible illegal election interference by Trump and others, he argued that she should not be allowed to prosecute him because she had organized a fundraiser for his Democratic opponent in the lieutenant governor’s race. Supreme Court Justice Robert McBurney agreed, ruling in July 2022 that Willis’ actions created a “real and untenable” conflict of interest.
That left it up to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, a nonpartisan state agency that supports district attorneys, to appoint a prosecutor to decide whether Jones should be charged. After Willis secured an indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023, Skandalakis, the group’s head, said he would begin searching for a suitable prosecutor to determine whether Jones should also be charged. In April, Skandalakis announced he would take on the job himself.
“I have always wanted to tell my story to a fair and impartial prosecutor, which Fani Willis clearly is not, and I am grateful that I have finally been given the opportunity to do so,” Jones said in a statement after Skandalakis’ decision was announced.
Jones has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said he and other Trump voters acted on the advice of lawyers to preserve the former president’s chances if he won an election challenge that was then pending in court. Three others who signed the Republican electoral certificate were among those charged with Trump.
Trump and the 18 others indicted in August were accused of participating in a vast scheme to overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia. Four have pleaded guilty after making deals with prosecutors. The others, including the former president, have pleaded not guilty.
The case is currently largely on hold while an appeal of an order allowing Willis to continue prosecuting the case is pending. Trump and others argued that a romantic relationship Willis had with special counsel Nathan Wade, whom she hired for the case, created a conflict of interest. The judge in the case said there was no conflict of interest that would justify Willis’ removal, as long as Wade left the case, which he did.
Jones, who is expected to run for governor in 2026, has positioned himself as Trump’s top deputy in Georgia. The decision not to prosecute him is unlikely to end criticism of Jones’ actions after the 2020 election. But it could embolden efforts in the Senate to attack Willis. Senators close to Jones have pushed for the creation of a special committee to investigate Willis, which could then subpoena witnesses and take sworn testimony.
Recommending charges against Jones could have put Skandalakis in a difficult position. As lieutenant governor, Jones has influence over how much money lawmakers spend on the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council.
