Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones Won’t Face Charges in 2020 Election Interference Case

ATLANTA — A special prosecutor has decided not to file charges against Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones over his efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss in the state.

Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys Council, announced Friday that he had decided not to take the case to a grand jury. Skandalakis appointed himself to handle the case in April, nearly two years after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was barred from prosecuting Jones in her election interference case against former President Trump and others.

Jones was one of 16 state Republicans who gathered at the Georgia Capitol in December 2020 to sign a certificate stating that Trump had 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.

Then a senator, Jones signed a call for a special session of the Georgia legislature to overturn Biden’s narrow victory in that state. He joined 26 other Georgia state lawmakers in a brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a request from Texas to overturn the election results in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Jones also visited 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 Electoral College votes. However, Jones said he decided not to deliver the letter to Pence, saying he had concluded that Pence was not open to that argument.

After Willis informed Jones 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 able to prosecute him because she had hosted a fundraiser for his Democratic opponent in the lieutenant governor’s race. Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney agreed, ruling in July 2022 that Willis’ actions created a “real and untenable” conflict of interest.

So it took the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, a nonpartisan state agency that supports district attorneys, to appoint a prosecutor to decide whether Jones should be indicted. After Willis secured an indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023, Skandalakis, the group’s leader, said he would begin looking for an appropriate prosecutor to determine whether Jones should also be indicted. In April, Skandalakis announced he would take on that task himself.

“I have always wanted to tell my story in front of a fair and impartial prosecutor, which Fani Willis clearly does not provide. I am grateful to finally have the opportunity to do so,” Jones said in a statement after Skandalakis’ decision was announced.

Jones has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying he and other Trump electors acted on the advice of lawyers to preserve the former president’s chances if he won an election challenge pending in court at the time. Three other people who signed the Republican elector certificate were among those charged alongside Trump.

Trump and the 18 others indicted in August were accused of participating in a massive scheme to illegally overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia. Four people pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors. The others, including the former president, have pleaded not guilty.

The case is largely on hold right now, while an appeal of an order allowing Willis to continue pursuing the case is pending. Trump and others have 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 chief spokesman 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 state Senate to attack Willis. Senators close to Jones have spearheaded the creation of a special committee to investigate Willis, which could then subpoena witnesses and take sworn testimony.

Recommending prosecution of 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.