Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones will face a special prosecutor’s investigation into his activity after the 2020 presidential election, a state agency said Tuesday.
Because of a conflict of interest, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was ordered by a judge not to probe Jones in her two-year investigation into possible election interference.
When Willis announced a 98-page indictment Monday night accusing Trump and 18 others of attempting to change the election results, Jones was not on the list of defendants.
Trump was indicted along with his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, his former attorney Rudy Giuliani, and a former member of his legal team Dallas attorney Sidney Powell, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Jones is accused of being one of 16 fake electors in an alleged plan to falsely swear the former president had won Georgia, The Associated Press reported. Three of the 16 were indicted on allegations of forgery, false statements, and impersonating a public officer.
Jones issued a statement on Tuesday after the indictments in which he said Willis’ investigation was “a constant media and PR campaign for the sole purpose of furthering her own political career.”
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ordered Willis to stop investigating Jones when he was running for lieutenant governor in 2022. The judge said Willis had a conflict after holding a fundraiser for Jones’ opponent, Charlie Bailey.
“This scenario creates a plain and actual and untenable conflict,” McBurney wrote at the time. “Any decision the District Attorney makes about Senator Jones in connection with the grand jury investigation is necessarily infected by it.”
The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia (PACGA), an agency that supports the state’s prosecutors, will now appoint a special prosecutor to determine whether Jones allegedly committed a crime.
“Ultimately, the special prosecutor will make the decision about whether or not to file any charges,” Skandalakis told the AP.
PACGA Executive Director Pete Skandalakis waited until after Willis’ indictments were released before deciding whether Jones should be investigated by a special prosecutor, the AP reported.
Georgia Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler (D-Stone Mountain) said Jones’ alleged role in the electors scheme should be investigated.
“He doesn’t get a pass simply because the Fulton County DA wasn’t permitted to bring charges,” Butler told the AP.
