A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The last outstanding criminal case against President Trump is now closed. A judge in Georgia dismissed the historic election interference case in its entirety on Wednesday. That's after a special prosecutor moved to drop charges against Trump and his remaining co-defendants. NPR's Sam Gringlas joins us now. Tell us more about the decision to drop the charges, Sam.
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: This decision was made by a special prosecutor named Pete Skandalakis. He took over the case after a court removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last year for an alleged conflict of interest, stemming from a personal relationship she had with a special prosecutor. It then fell to Skandalakis, head of a state prosecutor's counsel, to decide what to do with the case. And after reviewing the evidence and the law, he concluded all charges should be dismissed.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. What was his rationale?
GRINGLAS: Skandalakis questioned the strength of some of the charges, including the racketeering charge at the heart of the indictment, and he concluded that the federal justice system would've been a better place for this prosecution. Federal prosecutors did bring charges against Trump, but that case was dropped as Trump returned to the White House. Skandalakis also noted it would've been illogical and unduly burdensome to sever Trump from the case and continue against the other defendants.
MARTÍNEZ: You know, it's kind of hard to forget about the phone call that started it all, Sam, the find 11,780 votes call.
GRINGLAS: Yeah. This investigation began not long after that call, when Trump asked Georgia's secretary of state to find him the votes he needed to win Georgia. DA Fani Willis eventually asked a grand jury for an indictment, which she announced in a dramatic news conference in August 2023.
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FANI WILLIS: The defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia's presidential election result.
GRINGLAS: Trump and his codefendants pleaded not guilty. His mug shot at the Fulton County jail is one of the enduring images of this time. Four defendants later accepted plea deals, and those convictions remain.
MARTÍNEZ: Now that the case is over, Sam, I got to imagine the president has said at least a few things about it.
GRINGLAS: Sure. Trump wrote on social media that law and justice have prevailed in Georgia. We have not heard from the Fulton District Attorney's Office, but I did call up Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis, and he told me it would've been important for the public even just to hear the evidence at trial.
ANTHONY MICHAEL KREIS: This was really an opportunity for justice and reconciliation and for a kind of truth-telling. And that has been squandered.
MARTÍNEZ: Has been squandered, he says. So what's the legacy then of this effort - this yearslong effort then?
GRINGLAS: Trump recently pardoned allies allegedly involved in the effort to overturn the 2020 result. The ones named were never charged in a federal case, but they were charged in Georgia, where any convictions would've been immune from the pardon. Now those charges have been dropped. With the end of this case, it's extremely likely Trump will never face trial over his activities after the 2020 election. You know, as Kreis pointed out to me, the fact that this case fizzled could embolden future candidates to try to overturn an election and that the criminal justice system has shown it may not be equipped to respond.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Sam Gringlas. Sam, thanks a lot.
GRINGLAS: Thanks, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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