U.S. President Donald Trump. Reuters Yonhap News

A court in Georgia on the 26th (local time) terminated all trials for President Donald Trump and his associates, as the local prosecution withdrew its indictment against the president for his alleged attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

As a result, President Trump has been spared punishment in all four criminal cases he faced after his first presidential term (January 2017 - January 2021), both during his second term and after leaving office.

In a decision document issued today, Judge Scott McAfee of the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia, stated, "With the withdrawal of the indictment by the prosecution, this case is completely terminated."

Pete Skandalakis, the interim prosecutor in charge of this case, stated in his motion to withdraw the indictment submitted to the court, "It is practically impossible to put a sitting president before a Georgia court during their term of office." He added, "Even if the trial were to proceed, it would take a long time to litigate complex constitutional issues such as 'presidential immunity'." He further commented, "It would not benefit the people of Georgia to drag this case out for another five or ten years."

He also stated, "It is not reasonable in terms of time and cost to proceed with the trials of the remaining 14 defendants," and withdrew all indictments against former Trump campaign officials from the 2020 election.

President Trump expressed his thoughts on his social media platform, Truth Social, stating, "Justice and the rule of law have prevailed, and the witch hunt against me is finally over." He added, "The other witch hunts led by the Democratic Party will meet the same fate." He continued, "This case should not have been brought from the beginning," and vowed, "I will hold those who used the judicial system to silence their political opponents strictly accountable."

Attention is now focused on whether President Trump will pursue retaliatory investigations against the prosecutors who indicted him and former and current Georgia officials who provided unfavorable testimony during the investigation.

Fani Willis, the District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, indicted President Trump and 19 of his campaign officials in August 2023 on charges of election interference and obstruction. The prosecution's reason for indictment was that President Trump allegedly pressured the Georgia Secretary of State, who oversees elections, by calling him to obstruct the vote count during the 2020 presidential election.

President Trump was indicted for allegedly pressuring the Secretary of State to find enough votes to overturn his narrow defeat of just over 11,000 votes in Georgia, and at the time, he appeared at the Fulton County jail and had his mugshot taken.

District Attorney Willis initially had a smooth start, securing guilty pleas through plea bargains from four campaign officials early in the trial. However, last year, Trump's lawyers alleged that Willis had an "inappropriate relationship" with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor hired to handle the indictment in this case.

Consequently, the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified Willis from the trial, and the proceedings were completely halted for over a year.

On the 14th, the Georgia court appointed Pete Skandalakis, President of the Georgia District Attorneys Association, as the interim prosecutor to replace Willis in the Trump trial. With Skandalakis's withdrawal of the indictment, the trial concerning President Trump's attempt to overturn the election results in Georgia has concluded after more than two years.

Under Georgia state law, prosecutors can refile the same case within six months of withdrawing an indictment. However, considering the political climate surrounding this case, local media outlet 'The Atlanta Journal-Constitution' (AJC) predicted that the prosecution is unlikely to refile. The AJC also reported that under state law, the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, which initiated the charges, may have to reimburse Trump's side millions of dollars in attorney fees and legal costs.

Accordingly, all four criminal cases against President Trump have been concluded, and he has been freed from "criminal justice risk."

President Trump was first criminally indicted as a former president in 2023 by then-Special Counsel Jack Smith (for alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office and for attempting to overturn the election results).

In addition to these, he was indicted in a total of four criminal cases, including the Georgia case and a case in New York concerning charges of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments.

Among these, the hush-money related case resulted in a guilty verdict by a jury. However, on January 10th, ten days before the presidential election, the court acknowledged the guilt but decided not to impose any punishment, thus concluding the case.

Furthermore, on November 25th of last year, after the election, the court accepted the motion to dismiss the indictment filed by then-Special Counsel Smith, bringing a close to President Trump's cases regarding election subversion and the leaking of classified documents.

The fact that President Trump has been freed from legal risks is attributed to his victory in the presidential election, as well as a significant Supreme Court decision in July of last year that broadly recognized criminal immunity for the 'official acts' of a former president during their term of office.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of Georgia (right) and former Special Prosecutor Nathan Wade converse in court during the trial of President Trump's election interference case in 2023. EPA Yonhap News]Yonhap News