One of Georgia's top elected Republicans is now under investigation for his role in a "fake elector" scheme that aimed to steal the 2020 election for former President Donald Trump.
In a two-sentence press statement, the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, which provides legal support to district attorneys across the state, announced that its executive director, Peter J. Skandalakis, "or his designee," would lead an investigation into Lt. Gov. Burt Jones.
Jones was identified as "Unindicted Co-Conspirator Individual 8" in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' indictment of Trump and others for 2020 election interference, per reporting by the local Fox TV affiliate. But Willis herself was barred from prosecuting him after a judge ruled she had a conflict of interest, the outlet noted, prompting calls for Skandalakis to take over the case.
Jones is accused of helping to organize the fake elector plot, which aimed to replace Georgia's actual electors with an alternate and illegitimate slate of pro-Trump partisans. That scheme, which was assisted by key members of Trump's reelection campaign, came after the former president lost the state by more than 12,000 votes.
Jones, who was elected as a state senator in 2020 before seeking the lieutenant governor's office in 2022, has proclaimed his innocence.
“I’m happy to see this process move forward and look forward to the opportunity to get this charade behind me,” he said in a statement Thursday, as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
