ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is being investigated by a state prosecutor for his role as a “fake” elector in an alleged attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, is leading the investigation, his office announced Thursday morning.
Jones was one of 16 Republicans who acted as alleged “fake electors” for former President Donald Trump in Georgia. But a judge disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from building a case against him, citing a “conflict of interest” because she had held a fundraiser for one of his opponents vying for the seat.
The case was turned over to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia in 2022, and until Thursday morning, it had yet to assign a special prosecutor.
”I’m happy to see this process move forward and look forward to the opportunity to get this charade behind me,” a spokesperson for Jones told CBS News. “Fani Willis has made a mockery of this legal process, as she tends to do. I look forward to a quick resolution and moving forward with the business of the state of Georgia.”
Jones became Georgia’s 13th lieutenant governor in 2022, defeating Democrat Charlie Bailey behind Trump’s strong endorsement.
On June 14, Willis attended a fundraiser for Bailey, well after she had already convened a grand jury to investigate an alleged plot involving 16 Republicans who served as fake electors, one of whom was allegedly Jones.
Willis was subsequently disqualified from investigating Jones by Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney.
In March 2021, American Oversight, a Washington D.C., watchdog group, made the documents public, which it received in response to a public records request. The entire document also includes a list of alleged fake electors from Arizona, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
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