State prosecutor Pete Skandalakis said Thursday that he will lead the investigation into Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ alleged role in trying to help former President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, was tasked 21 months ago to find someone to oversee the investigation after the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office was recused from the case. Instead of appointing a district attorney or a private lawyer, he appointed himself.
Skandalakis has been criticized – even made the defendant in a lawsuit – for taking so long to appoint someone to lead the investigation. But he will now move forward to determine whether Jones should be charged with criminal conduct. In a statement, citing the rules of professional conduct for prosecutors, Skandalakis said, “No further comments will be made at this time.”
In a statement, Jones welcomed the investigation and took a swipe at Fulton County’s district attorney.
“I’m happy to see this process move forward and look forward to the opportunity to get this charade behind me,” he said. “Fani Willis has made a mockery of this legal process, as she tends to do. I look forward to a quick resolution and moving forward with the business of the state of Georgia.”
Jones, then a state senator, was one of 16 GOP officials who cast Electoral College votes in December 2020 for Donald Trump after President Joe Biden had officially been declared the winner in Georgia. Jones and the 15 others signed documents stating they were the “duly elected and qualified electors” from Georgia.
Credit: Richard Elliott, WSB-TV
Credit: Richard Elliott, WSB-TV
They met in a committee room at the state Capitol while the official Democratic electors cast their votes for Biden upstairs in the Senate chamber.
Jones has repeatedly said he committed no crime in casting that vote. He defended it by saying he was following the advice of a lawyer who addressed the Republican electors shortly before they voted.
That attorney, Ray Smith, said the electors were following a precedent set in 1960 in Hawaii where John F. Kennedy eked out a victory over Richard Nixon. Smith, who has been indicted in the election interference case, also said they were preserving Trump’s legal options in a pending lawsuit challenging the election results.
Jones was part of a group of state legislators who sought to convene a special session of the General Assembly to consider naming Trump the winner of the presidential election here. Gov. Brian Kemp and legislative leaders rejected their requests.
Jones also flew to Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, the day before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, with a letter from then-Sen. William Ligon, one of the leading election skeptics in the state Legislature.
The letter asked Vice President Mike Pence to delay the count of the Electoral College votes for 12 days to allow for more investigation into the 2020 election. The letter said that hearings in the state House and Senate had uncovered extensive irregularities and fraud – claims that turned out to be untrue.
Jones was to give the letter to Pence during a dinner at the vice president’s residence. Even though he attended the event, Jones did not give the letter to Pence.
“I was just reading him,” Jones said of Pence, explaining to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution why he kept the letter. He added that after talking to Pence’s staff and observing the vice president he decided, “there’s no need … no need to give him this.”
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
In the election interference indictment handed up last August, three of the 19 people charged were Republican electors who cast Electoral College votes along with Jones. They are former state GOP chair David Shafer, state Sen. Shawn Still and Cathy Latham, former chair of the Coffee County GOP. All three have pleaded not guilty.
Skandalakis is the former district attorney of the five-county Coweta Judicial Circuit and became executive of the prosecuting attorneys council in 2017. He has handled a number of high-profile cases while heading PAC. This includes his decision not to prosecute Atlanta police officers Garrett Rolfe and Devon Brosnan for the killing of Rayshard Brooks at a Wendy’s parking lot in June 2020.
Skandalakis was assigned the Jones case after Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney recused District Attorney Fani Willis from overseeing an investigation of Jones. That is because Willis had hosted a fundraiser for attorney Charlie Bailey, who would become Jones’ opponent for lieutenant governor in the general election. (Jones won with more than 51% of the vote.)
McBurney, while holding a hearing on the matter, said the public had to believe the investigation was nonpartisan and driven by the facts.
“It’s a ‘what are you thinking’ moment,” McBurney said. “The optics are horrific.”
In July 2022, McBurney removed Willis and her office from the case involving Jones and, by law, the case went to Skandalakis as head of PAC.
Apparently unable to find a suitable district attorney or private attorney to handle the case, Skandalakis has decided to take it on his own. But he took so long to do so, four Georgia residents, represented by Fayetteville attorney Wayne Kendall, filed suit in February to get a judge to order Skandalakis to make the appointment.
The suit, called a writ of mandamus, seeks to compel a public official to do his or her job, although the statute does not give a deadline for PAC to make such an appointment. It is still pending in Clayton County Superior Court.
Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis said Skandalakis’ decision likely took so long for two reasons.
First, he said, Skandalakis likely waited until Willis’ investigation of the other defendants was completed — providing a blueprint for his own investigation and possible charges against Jones. Also, Skandalakis likely wanted to see how Judge Scott McAfee would rule on key preliminary matters, such as whether the racketeering charge passed muster or whether the electors’ case should be moved to federal court.
“You let the DA finish the blueprint for you and see how complicated legal questions shake out,” Kreis said. “You can then proceed in a more intelligent manner.”
Staff writer Greg Bluestein contributed to this article.
