Lawmakers, including former defendant, react to dismissal of Trump election case in Georgia

The only lawmaker among the group of co-indictees with President Donald Trump who were dismissed from the balloting fraud prosecution this week lashed out at the Fulton County district attorney who brought the charges more than two years ago Sen Shawn Still I genuinely believe that Fani Willis knew from the beginning that there was no evidence of any criminal intent on my part Sen Shawn Still R-Johns Creek explained in a announcement after a judge in Fulton County dismissed all defendants Wednesday at the request of a special prosecutor Still was among three of Republican electors whom Willis indicted in her vote conspiracy occurrence Still mentioned he got nothing out of joining with them and voting for Trump and never thought he was doing anything wrong He also mentioned he never got an explanation for why of the other electors were not indicted along with him and two others former Republican state Sen David Shafer and GOP activist Cathy Latham They had met at the state Capitol a month after the vote and had cast electoral votes for Trump in an electoral process that was decided for Joe Biden I relied on the legal advice of a qualified elections attorney in the meeting and did what he advised me and the other electors to do Still revealed I thought I was fulfilling my duties as an elector Peter Skandalakis who took over the prosecution this month after Georgia courts sidelined Willis on ethical grounds used the same logic for recommending dismissal in the portion of the conspiracy event involving Still and the other two electors Skandalakis who is the executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia wrote in his motion Wednesday that the trio voted on the advice of an attorney to preserve electoral votes for Trump without intent to overturn the voting He pointed to what he identified as a similar situation observed by U S Special Counsel Jack Smith who had brought a different election-related development against Trump Skandalakis quoted Smith who wrote that co-conspirators deceived Trump s elector nominees deliberately withholding information about how their votes would be used This deception was crucial to engaging the participants as fraudulent electors Smith wrote Skandalakis wrote that it is not illegal to challenge ballot results and that he was loath to use the criminal justice system to pursue law-abiding citizens who in good conscience and upon the advice of counsel were appealed to perform certain tasks in connection with the litigation of an balloting challenge He wrote that Still Shafer and Latham acted on the advice of an attorney they thought to be an expert in voting law adding that they genuinely and sincerely assumed that their actions were a lawful component of the referendum contest process The decision to dismiss the charges left one Still colleague deeply disappointed though Sen Harold Jones II of Augusta the ranking Senate Democrat as the chamber s minority leader reported in a declaration that the dismissal let Trump evade accountability for his clear violations of Georgia law enabling him and his co-conspirators to avoid responsibility for their coordinated effort to overturn Georgia s voting results and steal the balloting Jones called it a setback for justice Still commented he was relieved that the affair was no longer hanging over his head and announced Willis had charged an innocent man The post Lawmakers including former defendant react to dismissal of Trump ballot situation in Georgia appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta