Pickup

A Georgia state agency said Tuesday that it will name a special prosecutor to consider whether the state's Republican lieutenant governor should face criminal charges after former president Donald Trump and 18 of his allies were indicted Monday for working to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was one of 16 Republican electors who falsely claimed that Trump won Georgia. As a state senator, he also sought a special session of Georgia’s Legislature aimed at overturning President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state. But Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was barred by a judge from indicting Jones. Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney agreed with Jones that Willis, an elected Democrat, had a conflict of interest because she hosted a fundraiser for the Democrat who lost to Jones in the 2022 election for lieutenant governor.

McBurney said in a hearing that Willis’ decision to host the fundraiser was a "what are you thinking?" moment.

  Yahoo

McBurney is the judge who received the grand jury indictment papers in Willis' RICO case against Trump, et al.

[Jones] has previously denied wrongdoing, saying he and other electors acted only to preserve Trump's chances if Trump won a court challenge. Others who used that explanation, including former state Republican Party Chairman David Shafer, were indicted Monday.

[...]

Willis only indicted three of the 16 electors who signed certificates falsely asserting Trump won the state and claimed to be the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. Two of those people — Shafer and then-state party treasurer Shawn Still — helped orchestrate the meeting, the indictment alleges.

[...]

At least eight other of the Trump electors signed immunity deals shielding them from criminal prosecution by Willis in exchange for their testimony.

[...]

The third spurious elector who was indicted, Cathy Latham, is accused of helping others copy software and data from election equipment in south Georgia's Coffee County. The indictment alleges Latham committed a number of election law and computer felonies. Latham is also accused of perjuring herself by lying about her involvement in a federal court deposition in 2022.

[...]

The indictment alleges that all 16 Trump electors, including Jones and the other 12 who weren't indicted, committed four felonies — impersonating a public officer, forgery in the first degree, false statements and writings and filing false documents.

[...]

But Jones did other things, notably flying to Washington the night before Jan. 6 to meet with Vice President Mike Pence. Jones was carrying a letter from a number of Republican state senators asking Pence to delay counting the electoral votes of Georgia and other states. [...] Jones has said he never delivered the letter, deciding it would be futile to try to sway Pence.

[...]

Georgia pays little to the special prosecutor and provides no money at all to hire other staff. That means a district attorney would have to use their existing staff to do the work, and a retired prosecutor wouldn't be able to hire any staff at all.

So...not much chance of a special prosecutor doing any good then.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.