A state prosecutor on Friday announced he would decline to pursue criminal charges against Lt. Gov. Burt Jones regarding his efforts to aid Donald Trump as the former president sought to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
After spending five months investigating the former GOP state senator, Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, concluded “this matter does not warrant further consideration.”
“The evidence reveals Senator Jones acted in a manner consistent with his position representing the concerns of his constituents and in reliance upon the advice of attorneys when he served as an alternate elector,” Skandalakis said. “The evidence also indicates Senator Jones did not act with criminal intent, which is an essential element of committing any crime.”
Jones, one of Trump’s staunchest defenders in Georgia politics who is considered a likely contender for governor in 2026, was among the GOP electors labeled a “target” of the Fulton County election interference case. He escaped indictment after a judge found that District Attorney Fani Willis had conflict of interest, a decision that threw the investigation to Skandalakis’ organization.
In a four-page statement, the veteran prosecutor said Jones “fully cooperated,” sitting for four interviews and voluntarily handing over his text messages….
Skandalakis also described an email Jones received on Jan. 4, 2021 from then-State Sen. William Ligon, the Brunswick Republican who led the Senate Judiciary subcommittee that aired many of the Trump campaign’s most sinister fraud allegations.
After hearing that Jones had accepted an invite to attend a dinner with Pence at his residence in Washington, Ligon asked Jones to deliver a letter to the vice president that requested he delay counting electoral college votes for 12 days to allow time investigate fraud, irregularities and misconduct from the general election. The letter said that hearings in the Georgia House and Senate had uncovered extensive irregularities and fraud — claims that turned out to be untrue.
Skandalakis also detailed a meeting that had not been previously reported between Jones and a Trump campaign attorney at a D.C. hotel shortly before the dinner with Pence. Listening to the lawyer detail the legal strategies the campaign was pursuing, Jones “left that meeting with the impression that the Trump attorneys had no ‘tangible plan’ regarding contesting the election,” Skandalakis said.
Jones ultimately decided not to give Ligon’s letter to Pence. He told Skandalakis it “never entered his mind” to discuss the election or GOP electors with the vice president.