Special prosecutor to examine Georgia lieutenant governor’s role in Trump bid to stay in office

A special prosecutor will be appointed to examine Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’s (R) actions following the 2020 election in the wake of former President Trump’s new indictment, according to a state official.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) on Monday charged Trump and 18 other individuals in connection with her election investigation, but she was barred from bringing charges against Jones because of a conflict of interest.

Jones, a former state senator who signed documents purporting to be one of Georgia’s valid presidential electors, appears to be the eighth of 30 unindicted co-conspirators who were not named but were described in Monday’s charging documents.

Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, confirmed he would appoint a special prosecutor to review the matter because of Willis’s removal.

“I have no timetable on this matter but will move as quickly as possible,” Skandalakis said in a statement. “I will also add, this case is unprecedented in its scope and nature. Finding a special prosecutor with the resources to handle such a case will not be easy.”

Willis last year hosted a fundraiser for a Democratic candidate who went on to face Jones in the lieutenant governor race. A state judge disqualified the district attorney from bringing charges against Jones, whom Willis had identified as a target of the grand jury’s investigation.

Skandalakis said his agency assumed the responsibility of appointing the prosecutor in accordance with state law following Willis’s removal. Skandalakis added that he has asked Willis for a copy of the report produced by the special grand jury that previously investigated the case.

The development was first reported by The Associated Press.

Although the indictment unsealed late Monday does not name Jones, it does appear to mention him on multiple occasions.

It lists a Dec. 7, 2020, tweet by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani that prosecutors say was a retweet of the unnamed individual. That matches Giuliani’s retweet of Jones that day.

The charging documents also note that the unnamed individual was a state lawmaker at multiple state legislative committee hearings about the 2020 election, again matching Jones’s known involvement.

A spokesperson for Jones did not return a request for comment.

In a statement posted to social media on Tuesday, Jones cast the indictment as politically motivated but did not mention the news about the special prosecutor.

“The Fulton County District Attorney has spent millions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of man hours over the past two and a half years orchestrating a constant media and PR campaign for the sole purpose of furthering her own political career,” he said.