President Donald Trump returns to the White House on Marine One on November 22, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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A judge in Georgia Historic dismissal on Wednesday A case of fraud brought before the President Donald Trump on their efforts to overturn their losses in the state 2020 election.
The ruling by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who ordered the case “dismissed in its entirety,” marks the closing of the final criminal case against Trump that has remained unresolved since he won back the White House in 2024.
McAfee’s ruling came shortly after state prosecutor Peter Scandalkis moved to vacate. The case against Trump and the rest of his co-defendants “to serve the interests of justice and promote judicial finality.”
“In my professional judgment, the citizens of Georgia are not served by fully pursuing this case for another five to ten years,” Scandalakis wrote in a court filing.
Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
Trump celebrated the ruling later Wednesday, writing at length Truth Social Post that “Law and justice prevail.”
“This case was never brought,” Steve Sado, Trump’s lead attorney in the case, said in a statement. “A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this law.”
The case, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis, initially charged Trump with 13 criminal counts, including a felony charge of violating Georgia’s powerful anti-racketeering law.
The indictment, returned by a grand jury in August 2023, indicted numerous co-defendants, including Trump and his former lawyers. Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—attempted an illegal coup. Joe BidenState wins in 2020 presidential contest.
Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia State of Georgia v. Donald is watching during the trial of John Trump.
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Those efforts include pressuring Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to get Trump enough votes to overcome his margin of defeat against Biden.
The case was once seen as the biggest threat to the GOP leader, who was already grappling with other criminal charges and a stream of civil lawsuits. At least four 18 of Trump’s co-defendants pleaded guilty within two months of the indictment.
It also produced one of the most striking images in recent US political history: a mugshot of the president, who was forced to travel to Fulton County Jail to stand trial on state charges.
But the case ran into major problems long before Trump’s re-election in 2024, effectively putting it on ice.
In September 2024, McAfee tossed out Two of the felony counts against Trump and some of his co-defendants, though he kept the top charges intact.
By that time, Willis was facing intense scrutiny over her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, one of the top criminal case lawyers. She defended himself Testimony against accusations of impropriety in a dramatic courtroom, however, was have been disqualified from the case In December 2024.
The Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear Willis’ appeal. The case was finally assigned to Scandalakis on November 14, less than two weeks before he asked McAfee to dismiss it.
“This entire case, from the beginning of the district attorney’s investigation in 2021 to the present, is without precedent,” Scandalakis wrote in a 23-page request to McAfee to drop the case.
“Never before, and hopefully never again, will our country face such circumstances,” he wrote in a motion known as “nole prosequi.”
He noted that bringing the case against Trump to trial would likely take years, as there is “no real possibility that the sitting president will be forced to appear in court” and that it would be “impossible” to move quickly after he leaves office in 2029.
Scandalakis also foresaw the possibility of separating Trump from the rest of the defendants and conducting separate trials, writing that it would be “both illogical and unnecessarily burdensome and expensive for the state and Fulton County.”
“Some may argue that even if President Trump is cleared of impeachment, the cases against campaign attorneys and advisers should go forward,” Scandalakis wrote. “However, I am extremely reluctant to criminalize the actions of lawyers who provide flawed legal advice to the President of the United States under these circumstances.”
Georgia’s Council of Prosecuting Attorneys also lacks the resources to conduct multiple trials, according to Scandalakis. “Continuing this lawsuit under these circumstances will neither serve the citizens of Georgia nor fulfill our statutory obligations.”
Despite asking for the case to be closed, Scandalakis suggested that efforts by Trump and his allies to sway the 2020 election, in Georgia and elsewhere, were serious.
“As I have said before, contesting is not illegal,” he wrote. “However, the strategy conceived in Washington, DC to contest the 2020 presidential election quickly turned from a legitimate legal effort into a campaign that ultimately culminated in an attack on the Capitol, carried out to prevent the vice president from carrying out his ministerial duty of counting electoral votes.”
Scandalakis said he believed the case “would be best prosecuted at the federal level.”
But he admitted that the former special counsel Jack SmithThose who pursued federal election interference charges against Trump were then forced to drop their case. Supreme Court Strengthened immunity for former presidents, and after Trump won re-election.