In a case that has gripped Georgia and the nation, the criminal prosecution over alleged interference in the 2020 presidential election by former President Donald Trump and his allies remains in limbo, following a series of legal twists and administrative delays. On October 9, 2025, Judge Scott McAfee of the Fulton County Superior Court granted the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia (PAC) an extension until November 14, 2025, to appoint a new prosecutor to oversee the high-profile case. This decision comes after the disqualification of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose romantic relationship with a special prosecutor she hired for the case, Nathan Wade, triggered a cascade of legal challenges and ultimately led to her removal.
The saga began in August 2023, when Willis announced the indictment of Trump and 18 others under Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, alleging a sweeping conspiracy to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the state during the 2020 election. According to Atlanta News First, defense attorneys sought Willis’s removal after revelations emerged in January 2024 of her romantic involvement with Wade, the lead prosecutor she had hired. The defense argued that this relationship created a conflict of interest, further alleging that Willis personally profited from the case through vacations funded by Wade’s earnings as special prosecutor.
Judge McAfee, in a March 2024 order, rebuked Willis for a “tremendous lapse in judgment,” but initially stopped short of disqualification, stating he did not find a direct conflict of interest. He ruled that Willis could remain if Wade resigned, which Wade did within hours. However, the defense appealed, and in December 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals removed Willis from the case, citing an “appearance of impropriety.” The Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear Willis’s appeal, affirming the lower court’s decision and leaving the case in the hands of the PAC.
With Willis out, the PAC, led by executive director Pete Skandalakis, was tasked with finding a new prosecutor. The agency’s role is to assign prosecutors in cases where the elected district attorney is conflicted or recused. But this is no ordinary case. Skandalakis, a former district attorney himself, acknowledged the difficulty of the assignment, telling The Associated Press, “You’re looking at DAs that are carrying caseloads that we’ve never seen before. You’re looking at some DA’s offices that are not fully staffed. Convincing one of them to take on a case as high-profile and resource-intensive as the 2020 election prosecution is not going to be easy.”
The PAC initially had just 14 days to appoint a new prosecutor, or the case would be dismissed. Skandalakis requested 110 days, explaining that the agency would need about four weeks to obtain the full case file and another 90 days to review it. “Without the case file, I cannot intelligently answer questions of anyone requested to take the appointment or to do his own due diligence in finding a prosecutor who is not encumbered by a significant appearance of impropriety,” Skandalakis wrote to the court. Judge McAfee, however, granted only a modest extension, giving the PAC about a month beyond the original deadline.
The PAC’s challenge is compounded by the sheer volume of work it faces. Skandalakis noted that, as of 2025, his office had 21 cases waiting for a prosecutor assignment and had received 448 criminal referrals due to conflicts or recusals by local prosecutors. The Trump case, however, stands apart for its complexity and political sensitivity. “It will require time to seek a District Attorney Pro Tempore willing to take on this prosecution,” Skandalakis wrote, emphasizing the need for a neutral party to ensure the case proceeds fairly.
Should a new prosecutor be found, that person would have several options: continue on the track Willis had charted, pursue only some of the charges, or dismiss the case altogether. The decision carries weight not just for Trump, but for 14 other co-defendants, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who still face charges. As Atlanta News First reported, even if a new prosecutor is appointed, any prosecution against Trump is unlikely to move forward while he is the sitting president. But the legal jeopardy for the remaining defendants persists.
This is not the first time the PAC has stepped in following Willis’s disqualification. In 2022, McAfee ruled that Willis could not prosecute Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in connection to the election probe, after she appeared at a fundraiser for one of his political rivals, creating a conflict of interest. Skandalakis took over that portion of the case and ultimately decided not to bring charges against Jones.
Trump, for his part, pleaded not guilty to the racketeering and related charges. The Georgia case is just one of four criminal prosecutions he faced as he campaigned to return to the White House. In New York, a jury convicted him on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. However, federal indictments accusing him of mishandling classified documents and unlawfully subverting the 2020 election were dismissed after he won a second term as president, as reported by Nexstar Media Inc.
For now, the fate of the Georgia prosecution rests on the PAC’s ability to find a willing and qualified prosecutor. Judge McAfee has indicated a willingness to compel the production of the full investigative file if the agency requests it sooner, but the clock is ticking. The case’s complexity, the political stakes, and the logistical hurdles of finding a neutral prosecutor all contribute to the uncertainty swirling around one of the country’s most closely watched legal dramas.
As Georgia’s legal and political communities await the next move, the outcome of this case could have far-reaching implications—not just for Trump and his co-defendants, but for the broader question of how states handle allegations of election subversion and the standards to which public officials are held. The coming weeks will reveal whether the PAC can cut through the obstacles and move the case forward, or if the prosecution will remain mired in procedural delays.
In the meantime, the eyes of the nation remain fixed on Georgia, where legal precedent, political ambition, and the rule of law continue to collide in dramatic fashion.
