President Donald Trump returns to the White House aboard Marine One in Washington, DC, November 22, 2025.
Allison Robert | The Washington Post | Getty Images
A Georgia judge on Wednesday dismissed the landmark racketeering case brought against President Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state.
The ruling by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who ordered the case “dismissed in its entirety,” brings to an end the last criminal case against Trump that remained unresolved after he regained the White House in 2024.
McAfee’s decision came shortly after prosecutor Peter Skandalakis decided to drop charges against Trump and his other co-defendants “in order to further the interests of justice and to promote the finality of justice.”
Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead lawyer in the case, said in a statement to CNBC: “The political persecution of President Trump by disqualified individuals [Fulton County District Attorney] Fani Willis is finally finished.”
“This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor brought an end to this legal battle,” Sadow said.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The case brought by Willis initially charged Trump with 13 counts, including the serious charge of violating Georgia’s powerful anti-racketeering law.
The indictment, returned by a grand jury in August 2023, alleged that Trump and numerous co-defendants illegally attempted to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory in the state.
Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis attends a hearing in the case State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on March 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Alex Slitz-Pool | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Those efforts included pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find Trump enough votes to overcome his losing margin to Biden.
The case was once seen as one of the biggest threats to the GOP leader, who was already grappling with a torrent of other criminal indictments and civil lawsuits.
It also produced one of the most striking images in recent U.S. political history: a photo of the president, who was forced to surrender at Fulton County Jail to be arraigned on state charges.
But the case ran into major problems long before Trump’s 2024 re-election effectively put it on ice.
In September 2024, McAfee dismissed two of the criminal counts against Trump and some of his co-defendants, while keeping the main charges intact.
By then, embattled prosecutor Willis was already facing increasing scrutiny over her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, one of the lead prosecutors on the criminal case. She defended herself in dramatic courtroom testimony against allegations of impropriety, but was ultimately disqualified from the case in December 2024.
The Georgia Supreme Court refused to hear Willis’ appeal. The case was finally assigned to Skandalakis on November 14, less than two weeks before he asked McAfee to close it.
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